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ANCIENT   BRITAIN 


CAMBRIDGE 
PRESS 


r.Y     THK     SAMK     AUTHOR  : 

ANCIENT     IM^ITAIN 

IN    •niK 

LKHIT  OK  MODKRN 

ARCIIyEOI.OdlCAI.  DISCOVERIES 

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THE  MIDDLE  AGES  REVISITED 

OR    THE 

ROMAN  GOVERNMENT  AND  RELIGION 

FROM 

AUGUSTUS    TO    THE    FALL    OF    CONSTANTINOPLE 

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THE  WORSHIP  OF  AUGUSTUS  C^SAR 

DERIVED    FROM 

A  STUDY  OF  COINS,  MONUMENTS,  CALENDARS, 
^RAS  AND  ASTROLOGICAL  CYCLES 

THE  WHOLE    ESTABLISHING 

A  NEW  CHRONOLOGY  OF   HISTORY  AND   RELIGION 

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THE    VENUS    DI    MILD 

ITS     HISTORY    AND     ITS    ART 
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ANCIENT    BRITAIN 


IN    THE  LIGHT  OF  MODERN 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL    DISCOVERIES 


BY 


5^'d 


ALEX.DELMAR 

Formerly  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Author   of 
"A  History  of  the  Precious  Metals,"  "A  History  of  Mone- 
tary Systems,"  "The  Middle  Ages  Revisited,"  "The 
Worship    of  Augustus    Ci*:sAR,"    etc.,    etc. 


NEW     Y  O  R  K 
THE    CAMBRIDGE     ENCYCLOPEDIA    CO. 

62    Reade     Street 
1900 

{A  II  rights  reserved^ 


COPYRIGHT 
BY    /LEX.     DEL    MAR 
1899. 


ANCIENT     BRITAIN 


CHAP  T  E  R  S. 


PAGE. 

Preface,         .      .  ix 

Bibliography,        xi 

I. — Anciknt   Britain, i 

II. — The  Roman  Conquest  of  Britain, 15 

III. — Language,  Laws,  Government,  Religion,        .      .  26 

IV. — From  Agricola  to  the  Sack  of  London,     ...  34 

V. — The  Last  Century  of  Pagan  Imperial  Rule,       .  47 

VI. — The  Revolt  under  Maximus,  383-'9,        ....  54 

VII. — The  Reputed  Invasion  hy  Hengist  and  Horsa,   .  64 

VIII. — Monuments  of  Roman  Civilization, 75 

IX. — The  Roman  House  of  Commons, 89 

X. — Trial  by  Jury, 108 

XI. — The  Writ  OF  Habeas  Corpus, 113 

XII. — The  Prerogative  OF  Money, 116 

XIII. — Rise  of  the  Gothic  Power  on  the  Continent,     .  126 

XIV. — The  Gothic  Province  of  Saxony,        135 

XV. — De,struction  OF  THE  Gothic  Power, 145 

XVI. — Gothic  Language,  Government,  Religion,     .     .  154 

XVII. — Gothic  Remains  Found  in  England,        ....  166 

XVIII. — Pretended  Bretwealdas  of  the  Heptarchy,        .  175 

XIX. — The  Norman  Conquest, 182 

XX. — Conclusion, 189 

APPENDICES. 


A — Origin  of  the  British  Tribes,        193 

B — The  Codex  Argenteus, 195 

C — Roman  Walls  in  Britain, 199 

Index, 201 

Corrigenda, 206 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN 


IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  MODERN  DISCOVERIES 


PREFACE. 


It  has  been  shown  by  writers  of  the  highest  credit,  among  whom 
are  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  and  Thomas  Wright  the  antiquarian,  that 
the  monkish  chonicles  which  relate  that  Britain  was  occupied  by  An- 
glo-Saxons in  the  fifth  century,  are  forged  or  corrupted, some  of  them 
centuries  later  than  the  aeras  of  their  pretended  authors.  These  spu- 
rious works  were  issued  by  or  under  the  express  authority  of  the  same 
college  which  issued  the  forged  Letter  of  St.  Peter,  the  forged  Do- 
nation of  Constantine,  the  forged  capitularies  of  Adrian  and  numer- 
ous other  impostures.  Albeit  the  true  character  of  the  false  Saxon 
chronicles  have  been  frequently  exposed,  they  still  continue  to  colour 
our  popular  histories  and  to  injuriously  affect  our  national  policy. 
The  archaeological  discoveries  and  especially  the  numismatic  finds 
which  have  come  to  light  in  late  years,  not  only  corroborate  the  con- 
clusions of  Palgrave  and  Wright,  they  impress  upon  us  so  ample  a  body 
of  testimony  against  the  false  witnesses  of  Rome  that,  inert  and  in- 
different as  we  have  hitherto  been  in  the  matter,  we  are  now  com- 
pelled to  choose  between  them;  and  upon  that  choice  must  depend 
the  disposition  of  several  important  subjects  of  practical  administra- 
tion. 

As  with  the  period  of  the  barbarian  occupation,  so  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  Roman  conquest,  the  early  records  of  Britain  have  been 
largely  falsified  or  perverted.  Many  of  our  institutes  of  freedom,  such 
as  the  right  of  assemblage,  of  trial  by  jury,  of  immunity  from  unlaw- 
ful detention,  of  representation  in  the  Comitia  and  the  subjection  of 
the  ecclesiastical  to  the  civil  power,  which  are  clearly  derived  from 
the  early  Roman  republic,  together  with  others  of  an  entirely  differ- 


X  PREFACE, 

ent  sort,  like  the  privileges  and  benefices  of  the  priesthood, the  feudal 
system  and  the  institution  of  caste,  which  clearly  sprang  from  the  later 
Roman  hierarchy,  have,  with  careless  inconsistency,  been  ascribed  to 
the  barbarians.  It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  tree  which  bore 
such  diverse  fruits  sprang  up  in  a  cloister;  for  it  will  nowhere  be 
found  in  the  domain  of  nature.  The  worship  of  the  Living  Emperor, 
which  was  the  corner-stone  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  and  was  enforced 
in  Britain  for  several  centuries,  giving  rise  at  the  very  outset  to  the 
Revolt  of  Boadicea  and  remaining  unshaken  until  it  was  overthrown 
by  the  Goths;  this  too  has  been  falsified  or  su])pressed.  The  pres- 
ence of  Moslem  influence  in  Britain — a  fact  unmistakedly  indicated 
by  the  gold  dinars  of  Offa,  the  common  use  of  Arabian  marks,  man- 
cusses,  carats,  and  sterlings,  and  many  other  circumstances — all  this 
has  been  omitted  from  our  histories  and  its  place  filled  with  fables 
stolen  from  the  idolatrous  mythologies  of  the  Orient,  or  manufactured 
in  the  hotbeds  of  medieval  imposture. 

Among  the  numerous  products  of  hierarchical  ingenuity  none  have 
more  effectually  fouled  the  stream  of  British  history  than  the  inven- 
tion of  a  line  of  Bretwealdas,  or  over-lords,  who  it  is  pretended,  united 
the  distracted  chieftains  of  the  Heptarchy  and  governed  them  in  the 
name  of  Rome.  This  conceit,  touching  and  warming  a  false  national 
pride,  has  found  belief,  when  it  should  only  have  excited  contempt. 
It  has  slandered,  belittled,  and  in  some  cases  entirely  removed  from 
history,  many  of  our  brave  Norse  ancestors,  those,  who,  whether  pa- 
gans or  christians,  stamped  upon  our  race  the  qualities  and  aptitudes 
for  which  we  have  the  most  reason  to  be  proud,  and  filled  their  places 
with  a  succession  of  "  kings  "  without  royal  powers,  of  heroes  whose 
only  virtue  was  subserviency  to  Rome,  and  of  saints  who  never  ex- 
isted at  all. 

The  design  of  the  present  work  is  to  restore  to  the  pages  of  British 
history  those  circumstances  of  which  forgery  and  imposture  have  de- 
prived it  and  which  archaeology  has  found  safely  preserved  in  the  pure 
bosom  of  the  earth. 


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A  work  of  much  learninc^,  besides  containing  many  valuable  materials  from  Faber,  Bryant, Vallancey, 
and  other  antiquarians,  concerning  ancient  alphabets,  mythology  and  Druidical  remains. 

Anacalypsis;  an  enquiry  into  the  origin  of  Languages,  Nations  and  Religion. 

London,  1836,  2  vols,  4to.  2072. 

Hoare  (R.  C.)  Ancient  Wiltshire.   London,  1838,  8vo. 

Holinshed  (Raphael).  Chronicles  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  from  the  ed.  of 
1577.   London,  1807,  6  vols,  4to.  194.  c.  3-8 

Holwell  (William).  Mythological  Dictionary.  London,  1793,  8vo.  696.  g.  3 
Homer,  The  Iliad.  I-Vl'll,  Tr.  by  C.  W.  Bateman:  IX-XXIV.  Tr.  by  R.  Mongan 
London,  1848,  i2mo.  The  Odyssey.  Tr.  by  R.  Mongan.  London,  1848,  i2mo 
HooppELL  (R.  E).  Vinovium,  the  Roman  City  of  Binchester.  London,  1879,  8vo 
Horace.     Works.     Tr.  by  Samuel   Lee.     London,  1873.  8vo.  2282.  a 

HoRSLEY  (John).  Britannia  Romana,  or  the  Roman  Antiquities  of  Britain.  London 
1732,  fol.    A  valuable  antiquarian  work;  comprehensive  and  concise.  806.  1.  i 

Howell  (R).  Rev.     History  of  the  World.    (For  Dignities  of  Rome,  See  II,  24-77.) 
HuEFKER  (Francis).     Life  of  the  Greeks  and   Romans.     Tr.  from  the  German  by 
F.  H.  etc.     London,  1875,  8vo.  2031.  a. 

Another  Tr.  by  Ernst  Guhl  and  W^  Koner.    (Not  in  the  British  Museum.) 

Humbert  (G.)  Les  finances  chez  les  Romains.   Paris,  1886,  2  torn,  Svo.   8228.  h.  (28.) 
Humboldt  (F.  H.  A.  Von)  Baro7i.   Researches  concerning  the  Institutions  and  Monu- 
ments of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  America:  with  description  and  plates  of  scenes 
in  the  Cordilleras.    The  "Vues  des  Cordilleras,"  Trans,  by  Helen  M.  Williams. 
London,  1814,  2  vols,  Svo.  1050.  k.  13. 

Fluctuations  of  Gold.    (Berlin,    1838.)     New  York,  1900,   Svo.     Cambridge 

Encyclopedia  Publishing  Company. 
Hyde  (Th.)  Rev.  Historia  Religionis  Veterum  Persarum.  Oxonii,  1700,  4to.    703.  d.  4. 

IbnBatuta.    Travels  into  Asia.   Tr.by  Rev.  Sam'l  Lee.  London, 1 829,  4to.     752.  1. 1. 
Indian  Antiquary  (The).     Bombay,  1872,  4to.     (In  Progress.)  14096.  e. 

Ingram  (J.)  Rev.    The  Sa.xon  Chronicle,  with  Eng.  Tr.     London,  1823,  4to.     2070. 
Ishtar  and  Izdubar.     The  Epic  of  Babylon,  etc.     1884,  Svo.  11652.  k.  (12.) 

Isvara  Christna.     {See  Chrishna.) 

Jamieson  (John,  of  Edinburgh).  Rev.  Hermes  Scythicus,  or  the  radical  affinities  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  Languages  to  the  Gothic,  illustrated  from  the  Moeso-Gothic, 
Anglo-Sa.xon  and  ?>ankish;  and  a  Dissertation  on  the  historical  proofs  of  the 
Scythian  origin  of  the  Greeks.     Edinburgh,  1814,  Svo.  71.  a.  20. 

Jastrow  (Ignaz).  Handbuch  zu  Litteraturberichten  im  Auschluss  an  die  Jahresbe- 
richte  der  Geschichtswissenschaft.  11899.  f.  47. 

John  L,  Bishop  of  Antioch.  Epistolce.  Greek  and  Latin.  In  J.  P.  Migne's  Patro- 
logiae.     Series  Grreca;,  1S57,  torn.  77,  4to.  2011,  d. 

Jornandes.  DeGothorumOrigine.  Lat.  and  Yx.,  thelatter  by  F.Fournier  de  Monjan, 
included  in  the  "Cpllection  des  Auteurs  Latins."    Paris.lSso,  Svo.    &^Nisard, 

Journal  OF  Hellenic  Studies.     Academies,  London,  vol.  III.  2056.  c. 

Juan  de  Persia.    Relaciones.    Berlin,  1854,  Svo,  broch.  9455-  d. 


XVIU  lilHLIOGRAPHY. 

JULIANUS  (Flavius  Claudius.)  Emperor.  Select  works  of  the  Emperor  Julian.  Tr.  by 
J.  Duncan.      London,  1784,  2  vols,  8vo.  89.  i.  22-23. 

Two  Orations  of  tiie  Emperor  Julian,  one  to  the  Sovereign  Sun,  the  other  to 

the  Mother  of  the  (Jods.    Tr.  by  T.  Taylor.    London,  1793,  8vo.  11391-  g-  i. 

Arguments  against  Christianity.     Tr.  from  the  fragments  preserved  lay  Cyril, 


Bishop  of  Alexandria,  by  T.  Taylor.    Privately  printed;  only  25  copies;  most  of 

which  were  destroyed.     London,  1809,  8vo.  3^J70.  b. 

Justinian.    Codex  (Te.xt)  XII  libros,  ed.     J.  I5runnemanus.    1679,  fol.     5207.  h.  5. 

Institutes.    (Text.)    Latin  and  English.     Cambridge,  1S76,  8vo. 

Digest.     (Text.)    Latin,  with  Spanish.     Tr.  by  B.  A.  Rodriquez  de  Fonseca. 

Madrid,  1872-5,  3  vols,  4to.  5207.  h.  3. 
Digest.    Introduction  to  the  study  of  the,  with  a  full  commentary  on  the  title 

De  Usufructo,  by  Henry  John  Roby.    Cambridge,  1884,  8vo.  2228.  cc.  6, 

Digest.     (Commentary.)     Private    Law   among   the    Romans.     By  John  G. 


Phillimore,  Q.  C.     London,  1863,  8vo.  2238.  c. 

JusTiNUS.    Historic  PhilippiccE,  cum  versione  Anglica.    London,  2d  ed.  1735,  8vo. 
Nothing  whatever  is  known  of  the  soi  disant  Justin,  who  abbreviated  in  this,  the  work  of  Trogus 

Pompeius.     The  latter  flourished  in  the  Augustan  age.     "Justin"  was  probably  a  monk  of  the  seventh 

(not  the  fourth)  century. 

Juvenal.    Satires.    Latin  and  English  texts.     London,  1745,  8vo. 

Keary  (C.  F.)  "Norway  and  the  Norwegians."     London,  1892,  8vo. 

Keightley  (Thomas).     Ovid's  Fasti,  with  Notes.     London,  1848,  i2mo. 

Mythology  of  Ancient  Greece  and  Italy.      London,  1859,  8vo. 

Keightley's  works  are  more  remarkable  for  what  they  ignore,  than  what  they  communicate,  on  the 

subject  of  ancient  mythology. 

Kemble  (Johannis  M.)  Codex  Diplomaticus  yEvi  Saxonici  Opera.  I-ondon,  1839, 
6  vols,  8vo.    Containing  Latin  texts  relating  to  Britain,  from  A.  D.  604  to  1066. 

The  Saxons  in  England.  Ed.W.De  G. Birch.  London, 1876,  2  vols, 8vo.  2071.  d. 

Kenyon  (F.  G.)  Aristotle  on  the  Athenian  Constitution.     London,  iSgi,  8vo. 

In  ch.  XLIII  there  are  eight  lines  of  astronomy  interpolated  which  will  not  be  found  in  the  origi- 
nal.    See  Classical  Review,  December,  1891. 

KiNGSLEY  (C.)  Rev.  The  Roman  and  the  Teuton.     London,  1864,  8vo. 

Kip  (William)  Bishop  of  California.    Christmas  Holidays  in  Rome.   Boston,  1869.  8v, 

Laing  (Samuel).     The  Younger.    Human  Origins.    London,  1892,  8vo.        7704.6.2. 

Lajard  (Jean  B.  F.)    Le  Grand  Bas-relief  Mythriaque.    Paris,  182S,  4to.        7820.  g. 

Mysteries  de  Mithra:  Text.   Paris,  1S47,  4to.    (Les  planches  en  folio.)    557.  g. 

Mysteries  de  Mithra:   Ouvrage  posthume.     Paris,  1867,  4to.  560.  d. 

La  Loubiere  (Simon  de).  Le  Sieur.  The  Kingdom  of  Siam,  done  out  of  French,  by 
A.  P.     London,  1693,  2  tom.,  fol.  983.  h. 

Lanciani  (Rodolfo),  LL.D.  Harv.  Ancient  Rome  in  the  Light  of  Recent  Dis- 
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La  Place  (P.S.de).  System  of  the  World.  Tr.  by  J. Pond.  London,  1809, 2  vols,  i2mo. 

Lappenberg  (J.  M.)    History  of  England  under  Anglo-Saxon  Kings.    London,  1845^ 

Le  Blant  (Edmond).  L'Epigraphie  chretienne  en  Gaule  et  dans  I'Afrique  romaine, 
Paris,  1890,  8vo.  07708.  f.  24. 

Lecointre-Dupont  (Gabriel).  Lettres  sur  I'histoire  monetaire  de  la  Normandie  et 
du  Perche.     Paris,  1846,  8vo. 

Le  Gentil  de  la  Galaisiere  (Guillaume).  Voyage  dans  le  Mers  delTndie  a  I'occa- 
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Leon  (Joachin  Velasquez  de).  Management  of  the  Royal  Mines  in  Mexico  and  pe- 
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Letronne  (Jean  Antoine).   Observations  zodiacales.   Paris,  1 824,  8vo.     1140.  d.  g.  (4.) 

Levesque  (Jean  L.)  De  Burigny.  Hist,  des  revolutions  de  1'  Empire  de  Constanti- 
nople— jusqu'a  I'an  1453.     Paris,  1750,  3  t.  i2mo.  1053.  a.  (9.) 

Hist,  de  la  Philosophic  Payenne.     La  Haye,  1724,  i2mo.  525.  a.  19. 

Lewis  (Sir  George  Cornewall).  Astronomy  of  the  Ancients.  London,  1 862, 8vo.2244.h. 4. 

LiLLiE  (Arthur).     Buddha  and  Early  Buddhism.     London,  1S81,  8vo.     4505.  ee.  11. 

Liutprandus.  Historia  ejusque  Legatio  ad  Nicephorum  Phocane,  In  Corpus 
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LoBECK  (Christian  A.)  Aglaopharmussivede  theologi?emystic£e  Grsecorum  causis  .  .  . 
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Disputationis  de  mysterium  Eleusinorum.      1824,  4to.  8357.  ccc.  3.  (4.) 


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Wright  (Thomas).    The  Celt,  the  Roman  and  the  Saxon.  London,  1885.  Svo.    (An 

able  work  drawn  chiefly  from  antiquarian  sources.)  2258.  b. 

Yanguas.   Dictionario  de  Antiquedades.,  art.  "Moneda." 

Yarranton  (Andrew).  England's  Improvement  by  Sea  and  Land;  to  Outdo  the 
Dutch  without  Fighting;  to  Pay  Debts  without  Moneys;  to  set  at  Work  all  the 
Poor  of  England  with  the  growth  of  our  own  Lands;  to  prevent  unnecessary  Suits 
in  Law;  with  the  benefit  of  a  voluntary  Register  (registration  of  land  titles);_di- 
rections  where  vast  quantities  of  Timber  are  to  be  had  for  the  building  of  Ships; 
with  the  advantage  of  making  the  great  Rivers  of  England  navigable;  rules  ta 
prevent  Fires  in  London  and  other  great  Cities;  with  directions  how  the  several 
companies  of  handicraftsmen  in  London  may  always  have  cheap  Bread  and  Drink. 
London,  1577,  2  vols,  4to.    (An  ingenious  and  extremely  rare  work.) 

Zasius  (Joannes  U.)  Epitome  in  usus  feudarum.  Lugduni,  1544,  Svo.        5306.  a.  2. 
Zoroaster.   Boum-Dehesch,  cosmogonie  des  Parses;  trad,  par  M.  Auguetil  du  Per- 
ron. Paris,  1771,2  torn.,  4to.  696.  i.  6.  8. 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN 

IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  RECENT  DISCOVERIES 

IN    ARCHAEOLGY,     NUMISMATICS,     ETC. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

The  name  of  Britain — The  Veneti — The  Phoenicians — The  Greeks — Greek  types 
of  Coins  found  in  Britain — Voyage  of  Pytheas — Landing  of  the  Norsemen — Torfteus 
— Archaeological  remains — Religion — Svastica — Customs — Runic  inscriptions — Name 
of  the  Sun-God — Tribal  names — Place  names — Name  of  London — Venet — Venicontes 
— Venetian  glass — Virgil  proves,  and  Bede  admits,  that  the  Picts  came  from  Scythia — 
Norsemen  not  Germans — The  latter  theory  advanced  by  the  Romans  as  a  claim  of 
dominion — Opinions  of  antiquarians — Tacitus  identifies  the  lestians  and  Britons — 
Pliny  classes  together  the  Massagetse,  Histians,  Brittones,  and  Frisians — The  Persians 
call  the  Scythians,  Sacae — Tribes  found  in  Britain  by  the  Romans — Bang  money — 
Progress  of  the  Norsemen  from  Caledonia  to  South  Britain — The  Roman  Conquest — 
Counts  of  the  Saxon  Shore — The  subsequent  Gothic  revolt. 

BRITAIN  has  been  usually  regarded  as  a  corruption  of  Bratanac, 
or  Baratanac,  the  Phcenician  term  for  "  Isles  of  Tin,"  or  "  Tin 
Isles,  "which  the  Greeks  translated  into  the  equivalent  Cassiterides.' 
Anac  is  advanced  as  a  Syriac  term  for  tin;  bedil,  commonly  translated 
tin,  being  regarded  to  mean  lead.^  Another  verbal  theory  is  based  on 
the  story  that  before  the  conquest  of  Britain  under  Claudius,  whilst 
Germanicus  for  two  years  was  encamped  near  the  sea  shore,  east  of 
the  Rhine,  the  sufferings  of  his  troops,  from  their  being  obliged  to 
drink  brackish  water,  were  alleviated  by  means  of  a  plant,  pointed  out 
to  them  by  the  native  Frisians,  and  called  "  Britannica. "  Says  Pliny, 
"the  name  surprises  me,  though  possibly  it  may  have  been  so-called 
because  the  shores  of  Britannia  are  not  far  distant. "  (Nat.  Hist.,  xxv, 
6.)  Lipsius,  in  a  note  to  Tacitus,  finds  a  marshy  tract,  called  "  Bret- 
aasche  Heyde,  upon  the  west  banks  of  the  Ems,  between  Lingen  and 
Covoerden,  upon  which  to  base  another  verbal  theory.    But  aside  from 

'  Anderson's  "Hist.  Commerce,"  ed.  1787,  i,  Ixxx. 

'  Prof.  Tychsen,  in  Beckmann's  "  Hist,  of  Inventions,"  art.  "  Tin."  Anac  is  used 
in  Amos,  vji,  7,  8. 


2  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

the  anachronical  character  of  this  last  suggestion,  the  locality,  which 
is  60  miles  from  the  sea-shore,  is  wholly  unfit  for  a  camp,  and  does  not 
coincide  with  Pliny's  description.  However,  the  fact  that  P>ritannia 
is  mentioned  in  a  work  ascribed  to  Aristotle,  (de  Mirabilibus  Auscul- 
tationes,)  rather  disposes  of  the  Bretaasche  Heyde  theory  and  con- 
firms Pliny's  suspicion  that  the  plant  was  named  after  a  country,  and 
not  the  country  after  the  plant.  But  what  country?  This  question,  or 
rather  the  broader  one,  what  is  the  origin  of  the  names  Britain  and 
Bretagne,  is  thoroughly  answered  by  the  Roman  archaeologist  Dr. 
Vicenzo  de  Vit,  in  the  Arch^ological  Journal,  vol.  xi,.  He  holds  that 
both  Britain  (England)  and  Bretagne  (France)  are  named  after  Brit- 
tia,  or  Jutland.  Pliny,  who  lived  for  thirty  years  in  the  northern  coun- 
tries and  was  well  acquainted  with  them,  says  (Nat.  Hist.,  iv,  31,  106) 
that  the  Menapians,  Scalds,  Toxandrians,  Frisians,  and  Britanni  com- 
posed the  inhabitants  of  the  Low  Countries.  Hyginus,  who  wrote  "  De 
Castrorum  Munitione  "  during  the  reign  of  Trajan,  mentions  (ch.  29 
and  30)  the  Brittones,  as  furnishing  auxiliaries  to  the  Romans,  together 
with  the  Cantabri,  Getas,  and  Dacians — all  Goths.  The  "Britones" 
in  Juvenal,  xv,  124,  and  "  Britannia  "  in  Martial, xi, 3, relate  to  Brittia, 
not  to  Albion.  The  "  Britanni  "  conquered  by  Augustus  (Georgics, 
III,  25)  were  Netherlanders,  not  Islanders;  for  Augustus  never  was  in 
Britain.  On  a  bronze  diploma  of  Domitian,  A.  D.  85,  both  Britannica 
aud  Brittonum  occur — a  conclusive  proof  that  they  related  to  two  dif- 
ferent peoples.  A  votive  inscription,  tempo  Trajanos,  has  been  found 
on  the  Rhine,  near  Xanten,  dedicated  to  the  "  Matres  Brittiae,"  the 
Brittian  Mother  (of  the  gods).  Other  votive  inscriptions  with  "Brit- 
tones "  and  "  Brit."  have  been  found  in  the  Oden-wald,  between  the 
Neckar  and  Maine.  Procopius  (Gothic  Wars,  iv,  20)  mentions  the  isle 
(the  peninsular  of  Jutland  was  then  deemed  an  island)  of  "  Brittia," 
which  is  situated  between  Britain  (Albion)  and  Thule  (Scandinavia), 
about  200  stadia  from  the  Rhine.  It  is  inhabited  by  Angles  and  Frisians 
called  "Brittones."  These  and  many  other  like  evidences  render  it  all 
but  certain  that  Britain  was  named,  as  London  was  named,  fron  places 
in  the  mother  country  of  the  namers ;  and  that  that  mother  country  was 
Scandinavia. 

Britain  was  knowm  to  the  Phoenicians  a  thousand  years  before  our 
sera,  and  may  have  been  known  to  the  Veneti  of  the  Euxine  at  a  still 
earlier  date.  It  was  known  to  the  Carthaginians  so  early  as  600  B.  C. , 
and  to  the  Greeks  before  the  time  of  Herodotus;  for  he  mentions  it 
as  the  Cassiterides,  or  Tin  Islands.  It  was  doubtless  visited  by  Pytheas 
■of  Marseilles  during  the  sera  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Native  imitations 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN.  3 

of  the  Greek  coins  of  this  period  have  been  found  in  many  parts  of 
Britain.  It  was  even  known  to  the  East  Indians,  who  got  their  tin 
from  it.^  Yet  the  monkish  chroniclers  assure  us  that  the  Northmen, 
who  lived  close  to  it,  knew  nothing  of  it  until  it  was  conquered,  in  the 
fifth  century,  by  Hengist  and  Horsa.  This  idle  tale  will  receive  further 
attention  as  we  proceed.  For  the  present  we  shall  dismiss  it  altogether 
and  proceed  to  advance  the  reasons  for  believing  that  Britain  was 
known  to  and  settled  by  maritime  tribes  from  the  Baltic  and  North 
Seas,  not  only  before  the  Gothic  uprisings  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  cent- 
uries, but  even  before  the  Roman  conquest. 

Torfseus,  in  his  "  Orcades,"  claims  that  his  countrymen  discovered 
Britain  in  the  fourth  century  before  the  Christian  sera  and  colonized 
it  a  century  later.  By  itself  this  testimony  would  be  of  little  worth, 
but  it  receives  confirmation  from  sources  whose  correctness  is  hardly 
open  to  dispute.  At  every  step  of  his  progress  throughout  the  British 
isles  the  antiquarian  meets  with  the  remains  of  an  invading  or  coloniz- 
ing race,  who  in  point  of  time  must  have  preceded  the  Romans,  and 
yet  who  were  neither  aboriginals,  Phoenicians,  Greeks,  Iberians,  Ger- 
mans, nor  Gauls.  These  colonists  were  tall  and  powerful  men,  fair- 
haired,  blue-eyed,  and  accustomed  to  the  sea.  They  cultivated  the 
■earth,  manufactured  wooden,  bronze,  and  glass  wares,  traded  with 
ring-money,  fought  with  bronze  weapons,  and  worshipped  a  deity 
whose  symbol  was  the  svastica,  and  to  whom  they  sacrificed  horses 
and  sometimes  men.  These  evidences  all  point  to  the  Veneti  and 
other  Norse  tribes  of  the  Baltic.  "  On  the  right-hand  coast  of  the 
Suevian  Sea,"  says  Tacitus,  "dwell  the  lestians,  whose  dress  and 
manners  are  Suevian,  whilst  their  language  is  British  (lingua  Britan- 
nicae  proprior).  They  cultivate  the  earth  with  far  more  industry  than 
the  Germans,  they  explore  the  adjacent  sea  for  amber,  which  they 
dispose  of  in  commerce.  Using  no  iron,  they  fight  with  clubs,  and 
they  worship  the  Mother  of  the  Gods,  (Matrem  deorum  venerantur)." 
That  the  masters  of  lestia  at  this  period  were  indeed  Norsemen  is  not 
only  proved  from  the  similarity  of  their  language  with  the  Britsh  and 
the  close  resemblance  of  ancient  Norse  and  early  English,'  it  is  con- 
firmed by  the  situation  of  the  Gothic  metropolis  of  Venet,  and  by 
other  circumstances  which  will  be  adverted  to  in  the  progress  of  the 
present  work.   Although  the  lestians  had  adopted  the  dress  and  some 

^  Pliny,  "Nat.  Hist.,"  xxxiv,  16. 

■•  The  language  now  spoken  in  the  more  open  parts  of  Norway,  is  Danish.  The  ancient 
tongue  was  discouraged  and  forbidden  by  the  Roman  church  and  driven  to  the  more 
secluded  parts,  where  it  still  lingers. 


4  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

of  the  habits  of  the  Suevians,  whose  country  they  had  invaded,  yet 
their  more  industrious  mode  of  life  distinguished  them,  according  to 
the  Roman  historian,  both  from  the  Suevians  and  Germans.  The  an- 
tiquities found  in  Britain  perfectly  agree  with  this  description.  There 
is  nothing  to  connect  them  with  Germany;  there  is  everything  to  con- 
nect them  with  Norway,  lestia,  Denmark,  and  the  Low  Countries. 

That  remotely  the  Norsemen  issued  from  that  conquering  race  of 
Scythia  which  subdued  successively  the  various  powerful  nations  who 
encompassed  its  arid  but  elevated  and  bracing  table-lands,  there  can 
be  but  little  reasonable  doubt.  The  proof  lies  in  their  Runic  inscrip- 
tions and  the  name  of  the  sun-god,  les,  which  they  bestowed  upon  nu- 
merous provinces,  rivers,  and  towns.  These  inscriptions  commence 
on  the  Yen-Iesei  river,  near  Lake  Baikal,  and  continue  westward  to 
Britain,  lesland  (Iceland)  and  Greenland.  During  the  whole  of  this 
vast  distance,  until  Britain  is  passed,  the  runic  inscriptions  and  place- 
names  derived  from  les  are  confined  between  the  50th  and  60th  paral- 
lels of  north  latitude,  an  isothermal  zone,  whose  uniform  climate 
affords  strong  corroboration  of  the  theory  deduced  from  archaeolog- 
ical etymology.  Westward  of  the  Yen-Iesei  the  Norsemen  appear  to 
have  crossed  and  named  the  leshim,  or  Ishim,  an  affluent  of  the  Irtish, 
in  Siberia.  Next  we  find  them  in  lestia,  or  Estya,  now  Esthonia.  In 
Brandenburg  they  were  known  as  the  lesidini,  or  Sidini,  and  the  god 
they  worshipped  was  called  Rada-Gaisus,  rada  being  a  Mongolian 
form  of  the  Indian  rajah,  or  king. ^  Advancing  westward  and  con- 
quering or  amalgamating  with  the  tribes  of  the  coast  and  the  adjacent 
fiat  country,  they  successively  crossed  and  named  the  Am-Iesus,  now 
the  Ems,  and  the  lessel,  or  Vessel,  now  the  Saal.  lesleben,  or  Eisle- 
ben,  a  town  of  Merseburg,  on  the  Saal,  an  affluent  of  the  lower  Rhine ; 
lessen,  a  district  of  the  lower  Rhine;  leserlohn,  a  town  of  Westphalia 
below  Cologne;  lesendyck,  a  town  on  the  Blie  eight  miles  east  of 
Sluys  in  Flanders;  Ober-Iessel  and  Am-Isia  in  Frisia  (now  Emdeh) ; 
and  Isigny,  a  town  near  Bayeaux,  on  the  north  coast  of  France,  all 
commemorate,  in  their  names,  a  division  of  that  Norse  or  Saxon 
race  who  eventually  fell  beneath  the  sword  of  Charlemagne.  An- 
other division,  passing  to  the  northward  of  the  Baltic,  left  their 
mark  in  the  names  of  Up-sala  and  leskilstuna  near  Stockholm,  and 
of  leslof  and  lestad,  towns  in  Gotland,  the  latter  situated  26  m.  S.E. 

^  The  fera  of  the  Rada-Gaisus  mentioned  by  Mascou  (viii,  14)  appears  to  have  been 
about  A.  D.  406;  but  there  was  a  more  ancient  god  or  hero  of  the  same  name,  who  flour- 
ished, or  was  believed  to  have  flourished,  many  centuries  previously.  "  Father  Jasius, 
from  whom  our  race  is  descended,"  occurs  in  Virgil's  "^neid,"iii,i6S.  The  chronology 
of  these  heroes  or  demi-gods  is  given  in  the  author's  "  Worship  of  Augustus  Caesar." 


ANCIENT    liRITAIN.  5 

of  Lund,  or  Lunden.  From  Scandinavia  they  undoubtedly  crossed  to 
Britain,  where  one  of  their  tribes  was  called  the  leseni,  or  Iceni. 
They  built  or  dwelt  near  a  town  called  Lunden,  or  London,  situated 
upon  a  river  which  they  called  the  Tam-Ies  and  the  Romans,  the  Tam- 
Issus."  They  also  built  a  town  named  Oxford,  on  the  banks  of  a  river 
which  they  called  the  les,  or  Issus.  The  great  antiquity  and  Gothic 
names  of  these  rivers  cannot  be  doubted, for  it  was  also  the  name  of 
the  principal  river  of  the  Gothic  Veneti,  who,  ages  before,  had  colo- 
nized the  shores  of  the  Euxine. ' 

The  rock-cuttings  of  the  Yen-Iesei  are  in  Great  Permia,  near  the 
city  of  Tzerdyn  on  the  banks  of  the  Tomm,  between  Tomskoi  and 
Kusnetskoi,  and  are  sculptured  on  the  rocks  through  which  the  Yen- 
Iesei  flows.  They  comprise  runic  letters,  the  sign  of  the  cross  fre- 
quently repeated,  a  spoked  wheel,  a  heart,  and  a  chase  on  horseback 
after  wolves.  Their  general  character  is  similar  to  the  ancient  rock- 
cuttings  of  Sweden  and  Iceland,  represented  in  the  wood-cuts  pub- 
lished by  Du  Chaillu.**  The  Jakuhti,  (Jaku  is  one  of  the  names  of 
Buddha,)  a  pagan  nation  of  ten  tribes,  comprising  about  30,000  tax- 
payers, still  live  along  the  river  Lena,  near  Jakutskoi.  They  call 
themselves  Zachi.  Procopius,  iv,  24,  mentions  the  Zachi  or  Zechi, 
probably  related  to  Sacae  or  Saxons.  The  Kalmucks,  who  worship 
Buddha,  designate  him  as  Zacha  or  Xaca.  Formerly  the  Zachi  lived 
near  Lake  Baikal,  with  the  Bretti  or  Bratti,  from  whom  they  after- 
wards separated.  They  adore  a  triune  god,  one  of  whose  personages 
they  suspend  in  efifigy  upon  a  tree  whilst  in  the  act  of  worship.   Cer- 

®  Among  several  remains  of  very  ancient  Norse  council-rings,  Mallet  found  one  at 
Lunden,  in  Scania.  It  was  therefore  a  place  of  importance.  This  Lunden  is  at  the 
southernmost  extremity  of  the  Swedish  peninsular.  There  are  other  Lundens  both  in 
Sweden  and  Denmark.  The  leseni  and  Trinobantes,  who  occupied  the  country  near 
London,  in  Britain, when  the  Romans  first  took  possession  of  it,  were  probably  lestians, 
or  Gothic  tribes, and  it  may  be  reasonably  conjectured  that, following  an  almost  universal 
custom,  the  name  of  the  place  was  brought  by  their  forefathers  from  their  ancient  homes 
in  Gotland  and  lestia.  '  Hecata^us,  in  Strabo,  xii,  3,  25. 

*  The  rock  inscriptions  on  the  Orkhon  river,  which  flows  from  Karakorum  northward 
into  Lake  Baikal,  contain  similar  characters,  as  well  as  others  of  a  less  archaic  period. 
These  last  are  said  to  be  Turkish  monuments  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  men- 
tioning a  Turkish  prince  called  Kul-Teghin, whose  oera  antedates  by  four  or  five  centuries 
the  first  appearance  of  the  Turks  in  current  western  literature.  The  credit  of  decipher- 
ing and  publishing  these  inscriptions  belongs  to  Prof.  Thomsen,  of  Copenhagen,  and 
Dr.  W.  Radlof,  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  St.  Petersburgh.  Trans.  Tenth  Cong. 
Orientalists  at  Geneva,  London  Times,  Sept.  28,  1894,  A  Turkish  prince  of  the  sixth 
century,  Mu-han  Khan,  the  conqueror  and  successor  of  Solien  Khan  of  the  White 
Huns,  is  mentioned  in  the  fragmentary  chronicles  of  the  latter.  Numismatic  Chronicle, 
1894,  part  HI. 


6  AXCIl'.NT    liRITAIN. 

tain  trees  are  sacred  to  them.  Their  year  at  the  present  time  begins 
at  the  vernal  equinox,  when  they  light  perpetual  fires,  sacrifice  horses, 
and  drink  koumiss.  Similar  fires,  lighted  by  the  ancient  Cimbri  and 
Gots,  also  the  keeping  of  the  ninth  day,  are  mentioned  by  Trogus, 
or  Troghill  Arnkiels,  in  his  account  of  the  "  Religion  of  the  Cimbrian 
pagans,"  Hamburg,  1702,  and  by  Adam  of  Bremen,  p.  144.  Before 
they  were  subdued  by  the  Russians  the  Zachi  used  to  offer  human 
sacrifices  at  the  graves  of  their  chieftains.  They  were  an  exclusively 
pastoral  nation,  who  practiced  polygamy,  and  sold  their  wives.  He- 
rodotus states  that  the  Veneti  had  a  similar  custom.  Each  tribe  of 
the  Zachi  had  a  favourite  aninal  for  its  ensign,  or  "totem,"  as  the 
raven,  swan,  goose,  etc.,  a  custom  similar  to  that  of  the  lestians, 
Norsemen  and  Danes.  Many  of  these  details,  together  with  others 
equally  suggestive,  will  be  found  in  Philip  John  von  Strahlenberg's 
' '  Northern  and  Eastern  Europe  and  Asia. "  The  author  was  a  Swedish 
officer,  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  (1709,)  and 
spent  thirteen  years  of  captivity  in  Siberia.  The  worship  of  Yen-Iesei 
or  Gan-esa,  (him  of  the  twelve  sacred  names,)  and  his  holy  Mother, 
by  tribes  still  dwelling  in  the  nooks  of  the  Himalaya  mountains,  is 
described  in  the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  liii,  71. 

"Whatever  doubts  may  remain  with  regard  to  the  genealogy  of  the 
Norse  tribes,  there  can  be  few  with  respect  to  their  early  settlement 
and  conquest  of  Britain.  Let  us  begin  with  the  evidences  afforded  us 
by  the  names  of  tribes  and  places.  The  earliest  names  that  have  been 
preserved  of  the  tribes  north  of  the  Humber  are  Norse  or  Gothic. 
Thus,  parts  of  Northumbria,  Merse  and  the  Lothians, were  inhabited 
by  the  Ottodini,  probably  from  Otto,  a  common  name  among  Norse 
chieftains.  At  a  later  period  the  Ottodini  were  classed  with  the  Maeatse, 
another  proof  of  Norse  origin.  Other  parts  of  Northumbria  and  Tiviot- 
dale  were  inhabited  by  the  Gadeni,  probably  a  corruption  of  Gateni, 
or  GetcC.  The  Selgovse  possibly  got  their  name  from  the  Norse  "sil"' 
or  Slid;  the  Novant^,  Damnii,  Epidii,  Gerones,  Carnonacas,  Carini, 
Carnavii,  Logi,  and  Cant^,  were  petty  tribes  who  occupied  other  por- 
tions of  Scotland  at  the  period  of  Agricola's  conquest.  They  have 
usually  been  classed  with  the  Masatae,  probably  identical  with  the 
Mertae,  whom  Ptolemy  locates  in  the  northwest  part  of  Sutherland. 
Unless  they  were  Norsemen,  or  else  Aborigines,  whom  the  Norse  left 
behind  them  in  their  southward  progress  and  who  at  a  later  period 
united  with  them  against  their  common  enemy,  the  Roman  authori- 
ties, there  is  no  clue  to  their  origin.  M^atte  is  the  original  name  of 
the  tribe  which  was  afterwards  called  indifferently  Masatae  or  Gaeta^^ 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN.  7 

a  fact  due  to  the  absence  of  the  letter  G  in  the  early  runes  and  the 
resemblance  of  G  to  M  in  the  later  ones.  The  Venicontes  of  Fife, 
who  had  a  town  named  Orrea,  which  was  near  the  river  Ore,  were 
probably  Norsemen,  all  these  names  being  Norse.  Dungeness,  Fife- 
ness,  Arundel,  Dover,  Canterbury,  orCantabri,  Orail,  Oxford, Orford, 
Naze,  Nore,  and  many  other  English  names  of  places,  are  derived 
from  Norwegian  prototypes;  as  Arendal,  Dovre,  Oxenfiord,  Ness  and 
Nor.  Indeed  Norse  names  of  places  abound  all  over  Britain,  as  Lon- 
don, Saturday,  Wednesday,  Satterthwait,  Whitby,  Grimsby,  Sheer- 
ness,  and  all  towns  ending  in  "by,"  "ford,"  or  "ness."*  Not  one 
of  these  was  brought  from  Germany.  The  use  of  the  term  "dale  " 
for  valley,  proves  Norse  settlement.  The  "bols"  of  Sutherland  and 
Ross,  bespeak  the  presence  of  Norsemen.  "The  Norse  foirdr  may 
be  discovered  under  many  a  strange  form,  not  the  least  being  Knut- 
fiordr,  or  Cnut's  firth,  appearing  as  Knoidert,  pronounced  in  Gaelic, 
Croderst.  Norse  place-names  occur  all  the  way  from  Caithness  to 
Cantyre. "  '"  But  such  evidence  cannot  be  accepted  to  prove  the  pres- 
ence of  Norsemen  previous  to  or  during  the  Roman  occupation,  un- 
less the  period  can  be  ascertained  when  the  Norse  names  of  these 
places  were  conferred  or  employed.  The  doom-rings,  runic  inscrip- 
tions and  other  Norse  remains  found  in  various  parts  of  Britain,  are 
testimonies  of  a  similar  kind.  They  prove  the  presence  of  Norsemen, 
but  not  the  period  of  their  coming.  De  Quincy  says  that  the  English 
lake  dialects  and  the  names  of  mountains,  tarns, etc., are  "pure  Danish 
of  the  elder  form."  "  The  cockney  dialect  is  evidently  derived  from 
that  of  Osen,  where  its  analogue  is  still  spoken.  One  has  only  to 
travel  a  month  or  two  in  Norway  to  remark  the  striking  similarity 
between  its  inhabitants  and  those  of  North  Britain,  both  in  stature, 
hardihood,  features,  complexion,  language,  fearless  bearing,  love  of 
freedom  and  aptitude  for  a  seafaring  life. 

Caledonian  was  the  name  employed  by  the  earlier  Romans  to  desig- 
nate all  the  tribes  without  the  Wall.  The  name  is  derived  from  Gael 
or  Gael  (Gaul),  and  dun,  a  mountain,  and  meant  Gauls  of  the  Moun- 
tains, or  highlanders.  As  is  elsewhere  explained  with  regard  to  the 
Roman  use  of  the  word  "Germany,"  this  word  was  erroneous  and 
misleading.  The  Romans  in  Britain  had  made  allies  of  the  Norsemen 
and  enemies  of  the  Gaels.     Hence  they  choose  to  regard  all  the  bar- 

'  Ness  means  nose,  or  cape.  It  is  the  same  in  Russian,  Scandinavian,  English,  French, 
and  Spanish;  in  short,  in  the  language  of  every  country  conquered  by  the  Goths. 

'"  Proceedings  Society  Scottish  Antiquarians,  April  12,  1SS6. 

"  De  Quincey's  Works,  x,  60,  and  xiii,  273-83.  "  Danish  of  the  elder  form"  means 
the  ancient  Norse,  now  only  spoken  in  the  more  secluded  parts  of  Norway. 


8  ANCIKN'l'    HRITAIN. 

barians  without  the  Wall  as  Grels";  but  this  was  so  far  from  being 
true  that  the  later  Romans  classified  them  into  two  races  and  referred 
to  them  by  the  names  which  they  had  given  each  other.  One  race 
was  called  Scuites,  the  other  Picts.  We  are  told  that  Scuites  meant 
scutlers  or  wanderers,  and  Picts,  pickers,  or  plunderers;  but  this  is 
mere  trifling.  Picts  was  the  name  of  a  tribe  of  Goths  who  are  men- 
tioned as  such  by  Virgil  and  Claudian. "  Scythians,  Scuites,  and  Scots 
are  one  word  and  mean  one  people. 

The  name  of  Veneti  is  very  remarkable.  We  have  elsewhere  traced 
it  from  the  Euxine  to  the  Adriatic.  It  may  be  also  traced  to  Taren- 
tum.  Cffisar  found  it  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire,  where  the  Veneti  and 
Picts  had  trading  stations,  which  were  evidently  connected  with  others 
in  Britain  and  the  Low  Countries,  for  when  he  attacked  them,  they 
sent  to  Britain  and  Menapia  for  aid.  They  are  mentioned,  under  the 
name  of  Vendians, by  Tacitus  and  other  Roman  writers, as  inhabitants 
of  the  Baltic  coasts.  If  we  may  be  guided  by  the  names  Venicontes 
and  Menapia,  they  had  also  stations  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  and 
Wales.  Little  or  no  mention  is  made  of  them  during  the  Dark  Ages, 
but  later  on  they  are  described  as  possessing  the  rich  and  populous 
city  of  Venet,  from  which  they  commanded  the  trade  of  the  Baltic, 
and  which,  until  they  were  driven  out  by  Charlemage,  was  the  capital 
of  the  Saxons.'* 

The  tribes  whom  the  Romans  encountered  in  Britain  may  be  divided 
into  four  principal  classes.  First,  the  aboriginal  Britons,  probably 
from  the  "isle  "  of  Brittia,  or  Jutland.  Second, the  Gsels, whose  Druid 
religion  embraced  some  rites  gathered  from  the  Punic  and  Iberian 
traders  who  had  visited  their  shores  for  tin.  Third,  the  Gothic  tribes 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Bergen,  Osen,  (Oxen,)  Lunden,  and  other 
places  in  Norway,  whose  religion  was  the  worship  of  Thor,  Woden, 
and  Frica,  the  Mother  of  Gods.  '^  The  lestians  alluded  to  by  Tacitus, 

'-  Cresar  committed  the  same  blunder:  he  classed  the  Picts  and  Ga;ls  together.  De 
Eell.  Gall.,  iii,  ii.  The  country  of  the  Vendians  and  Picts  still  goes  by  their  names. 
Vendee  and  Poictiers. 

'^  "  Pictosque  Gelonos,"  Georgica,  ii,  115;  "  Perlegit  exsangues  Picto  moriente  fig- 
uras."  De  Bell.  Get.  418,  tempo  Arcadius  et  Honorius.  The  word  meant  "  Painted 
men,"  or  men  who  tatoo  their  bodies,  as  their  descendants  do  to  this  day. 

'■*  See  further  on,  chapter  xv,  on  the  Pagan  Hansa. 

'^  There  are  various  monkish  legends  to  account  for  the  name  of  London,  and  the 
reader  has  ample  room  for  choice  between  them.  The  popular  one  is  from  Goeffrey  of 
Monmouth,  who  connects  it  with  the  fabulous  king  Lud.  It  has  the  disadvantage  of 
being  complicated  with  the  Trojan  /Eneas,  Brutus,  etc.  To  these  verbal  theories  Sir 
Walter  Besant  has  recently  made  an  addition.  What  we  know  for  certain  is  that  London 
had  its  present  name,  that  is  to  say,  Londinium,  the  Latin  form  of  it,  so  early  as  the 
period  of  Tacitus,  for  it  is  so  written  m  his  Annals,  xiv,  33.  It  has  also  been  found 
on  numerous  tiles  of  the  same  period.     Archaeological  Journal,  xl,  So. 


ANCIENT    URITAIN.  9 

(the  Picts  of  Virgil  and  Claudian,)  were  probably  one  of  those  hybrid 
tribes,  whose  Gothic  fathers,  Gelones  or  Suiones,  had  amalgamated 
with  native  women,  Suevians, to  the  confusion  of  history  and  theefface- 
ment  of  racial  relations.'"  Fourth,  the  Belgian  tribes  from  Soissons, 
Rheims,Bibrax,Artois,  Arras, etc.,  named  Suessiones,  Regni,  Bibroci, 
and  Attrebatti,  who  came  into  Britain  shortly  before  the  first  invasion 
of  Csesar,  and  whose  racial  characteristics  and  religion  both  seem  to 
have  been  influenced  by  contact  with  the  Saxon  or  Gothic  tribes  who 
had  previously  invaded  the  Low  Countries. 

To  these  tribes  may  be  added  the  Gaelic  priests,  whose  establishment 
in  Britain  had  been  greatly  augmented  inconsequence  of  the  hostile 
measures  of  Julius  Cresar  in  Gaul.  That  country,  once  the  seat  of  a 
powerful  hierarchy,  was  now  a  political  ruin.  After  passing  through 
the  various  stages  of  that  feudalism  which  appears  to  be  the  invariable 
and  inevitable  consequence  of  hierarchical  government,  Gaul  had 
fallen  under  the  sway  of  a  multitude  of  warring  chieftains.  To  grind 
them  against  one  another,  as  Cortes  afterwards  ground  the  Toltecs 
and  Aztecs,  the  Tlascalans,  and  Mexicans,  was  no  great  achievement 
for  the  greatest  politician  of  his  age.  To  get  rid  of  the  Druidical 
priests  and  fill  their  places  with  Romans,  was  a  far  more  difficult  task 
and  of  greater  political  importance.  The  sword  and  the  lash  may  have 
sufficed  to  drive  the  more  stubborn  Druids  to  Britain;  but  methods 
less  irritating  to  the  remaining  Gauls  were  required  to  reconcile  them 
to  the  ministrations  of  strangers.  These  were  probably  the  retention 
of  the  more  tractable  priests  in  Roman  ecclesiastical  establishments  '^ ; 
the  adoption  into  theRoman  provincial  ritual  of  some  of  the  old  Druid- 
ical gods,  customs,  and  symbols;  and  finally,  the  advancement  of  the 
Gaulic  chieftains  to  senatorial  and  other  imperial  honours.  These 
measures  probably  sufficed  to  ensure  that  rapid  overthrow  of  the 
Druidical  hierarchy,  which  had  been  nearly  effected  by  internal  decay 
before  Caesar  invaded  their  country. 

'^  Murphy,  in  a  note  to  this  passage,  (Ger.  45,)  argues  that  the  British  dialect  of  the 
lestians  proves  affinity  to  the  Grels  of  Britain,  and  that  therefore  their  race  was  Gcelish, 
or,  as  he  confusedly  terms  it,  "  Scythico-Celtic."  But  there  is  no  affinity  between  Eng- 
lish and  Gaelic,  whilst  between  English  and  Norse  the  affinity  is  marked.  Moreover,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  account  for  the  presence  of  Gcels  in  Esthonia;  whilst  that  of  the 
Veneti  and  Norsemen  is  well  attested.  Mr.  Arthur  J.  Evans,  the  archaeologist,  writes 
from  Oxford  to  the  "  Times,"  under  date  of  September  21,  1893,  concerning  the  recent 
finds  of  pottery  at  Aylesford,  in  Kent,  and  of  spiral  glass  ornaments  in  the  Glastonbury 
fens,  that  they  establish  beyond  doubt  a  connection  between  the  Veneti  and  pre-Roman 
Britain:  an  opinion  in  which  he  appears  to  be  joined  by  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins.  On  a  Hindu 
intaglio  found  at  Montrose,  in  Scotland,  consult  Trans.  Royal  Asiat.  Soc,  Dec,  1S30. 

"  An  instance  of  this  character  is  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  Annals,  I,  57. 


lO  ANCIKNT     r.KllAIN. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  aiul  tlislinctive  of  antiquarian  remains 
which  attest  the  early  domination  of  Norse  tribes  in  IJritain,  and  there- 
fore the  fabulous  character  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion  of  the  fifth 
century,  are  the  bangs,  or  ring-money,  which,  at  least  in  northern  Eu- 
rope, are  known  to  have  been  used  only  by  the  Norse  or  Gothic  tribes. 
Vast  numbers  of  these  rings,  which  from  their  size,  material,  and 
other  circumstances  were  evidently  employed  for  money,  have  been 
found  in  subterranean  hoards  in  various  parts  of  Britain  and  Norway, 
They  are  frequently  mentioned  as  money  in  the  Norse  sagas;  and  to 
attest  their  epoch,  they  are  succinctly  described  by  Csesar,  who  in- 
forms us  that  they  were  used  as  money  by  the  tribes  whom  he  en- 
countered in  Britain. 

These  evidences  and  others  of  the  same  sort  yet  to  be  produced,  are 
mutually  corroborative;  they  crystalize  together;  they  fit  each  other, 
and  are  seen  to  be  parts  of  one  great  truth — a  truth,  that  in  the  frag- 
ments of  ancient  literature  and  in  the  fabulous  chronicles  of  the  med- 
ieval monks, all  of  which  have  emanated  from  the  same  Sacred  College 
of  Rome,  found  no  place  at  all.  That  the  world  had  been  grossly  de- 
ceived by  these  forgeries  was  long  ago  shown  by  Horsley,  and  has 
since  been  confirmed  by  Wright,  Kemble,  Russell,  and  other  distin- 
guished antiquarians;  yet  they  continue  to  fill  the  popular  histories 
and  to  work  their  baneful  influence  upon  the  popular  mind. 

Bede  admits  that  the  Picts  came  from  Scythia,  whose  coasts,  there 
can  be  little  doubt,  were,  centuries  before  his  time,  entirely  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Norsemen.  That  the  Picts  were  a  Gothic  race  is  not  only 
evident  from  these  circumstances,  it  was  the  opinion  of  Bishop  Still- 
ingfieet,  Dr.  Russell,  and  other  antiquarians.  Says  Dr.  Russell,  (1,43,) 
' '  On  attentive  reflection  and  inquiry  I  am  convinced,  by  the  express 
authority  of  Bede  and  by  other  considerations,  that  the  Picts  were 
Scandinavian  emigrants  who  passed  from  Norway  into  the  country 
now  called  Scotland,  long  before  the  Romans  visited  this  island,  and 
were  not  of  the  Celtic,  but  of  the  Gothic  race. "  '^  The  passages  from 

'*  The  Orkneyinga  Saga,  p.  550,  says  that  the  aborigines  of  these  islands  were  Picts. 
According  to  Torfasus,  the  isles  were  discovered  by  the  Norsemen,  B.  C.  385,  and  col- 
onized B.  C.  260.  In  A.  D.  839  the  Picts  of  Orkney  fled  to  Norway,  and  in  the  reign 
of  Harold  Harfaga,  865-933,  they  induced  him  to  reinstate  them  in  their  native  country. 
The  Orkney  and Jetland  isles  were  possessions  of  the  Norwegians  from  the  ninth  century 
down  to  the  year  1468-9,  when  they  were  pledged  by  Christian  I.,  for  58,000  Rhenish 
florins.  Although,  according  to  the  Norwegian  accounts,  this  debt  was  frequently 
offered  to  be  repaid,  both  to  the  Scotch  and  English  kings,  they  refused  to  restore  the 
islands.  The  last  offer  was  made  by  Frederick  V.,  about  1750.  A  Scotch  antiquarian 
says:  "  The  possession  of  the  Hebrides  by  the  Norsemen  must  have  given  them  great 
influence  on  the  west  coast."  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  influence  extended 
wherever  there  was  water  enough  to  float  an  oared  barge. 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN.  II 

Virgil  and  Claudian,  which  seem  to  have  escaped  Dr.  Russell's  re- 
searches, attest  the  soundness  of  his  conclusions. 

The  inclusion  of  the  Baltic  coasts  in  the  "  Germany  "  of  Tacitus, and 
their  subsequent  inclusion  in  the  "  Teutonic  race  "  theories  invented 
by  ecclesiastical  writers  and  accepted  by  those  who  have  thoughtlessly 
followed  them,  is  of  a  piece  with  the  claims  advanced  by  Cortes  and 
Pizarro  in  America:  "  God  gave  the  earth  to  Christ:  Christ  to  Peter: 
Peter  to  the  Pope:  the  Pope  to  Charles  I.,  whose  Lieutenant  am  I; 
therefore  I  advise  you  to  lay  down  your  arms,  and  to  swear  fealty  and 
pay  tribute  to  your  rightful  suzerain:  otherwise  I  will  despoil  and 
destroy  you !  "  Germany  was  a  province  of  Rome,  whose  sovereign- 
pontiffs  assumed  the  title  of  Germanicus.  If  the  Saxons,  Goths,  Norse- 
men, Veneti,  call  them  what  you  will,  are  shown  to  be  of  German 
descent,  then  they  were  vassals  of  Rome.  Tacitus  advances  this  theory 
in  describing  the  scope  of  Germania;  Charlemagne  enforced  it  with 
the  sword ;  and  the  Roman  church,  devoting  centuries  to  the  purpose, 
patiently  worked  it  into  the  language,  customs,  and  annals  of  the 
North.  Yet  there  is  not  a  grain  of  truth  in  it:  the  Saxons,  or  North- 
men, and  the  Germans  have  teleologically  nothing  in  common. 

Putting  together  these  various  evidences  we  are  warranted  in  as- 
serting that  the  Gothic  invasion  or  colonization  of  Britain  took  place 
not  under  the  Empire,  but  during  the  Commonwealth  of  Rome.  The 
ice,  the  cold,  the  long  dark  winters,  the  damp,  the  fogs  of  northern 
Britain  had  no  terrors  for  the  new-comers:  they  had  experienced  dis- 
comforts like  these  in  the  Holy  Land  of  Norway,  whence  their  vikings 
first  adventured  to  the  Jetlands.  They  saw  only  the  bright  side  of 
things,  the  warm  flood,  which,  coming  from  some  unknown  Paradise 
beyond  the  Western  Ocean,  madly  raced  through  the  North  Passage 
and  cast  strange  relics  upon  the  shores  of  Cantyre;  '"  the  bright  sun, 
which  for  a  time  scarce  dips  beneath  the  horizon;  the  wild  heather 
which  gaily  decked  the  moors;  the  welcome  summer  warmth;  the 
quick  vegetation ;  above  all,  the  numerous  inlets  and  ports  of  the  coast, 
delighted  them;  for  the  Norsemen  were  a  race  of  sailors,  accustomed 
to  live  upon  the  waters,  and  to  laugh  at  storms.  To  their  dull  and 
heavy,  but  brave  and  practical  minds,  the  land  was  good  enough. 
Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  had  visited  it  before  them,  perhaps  had  told 
them  something  about  it,  how  few  inhabitants  it  possessed,  how  easily 

'^  "  The  Land  Junction  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  by  J.  C.  King,  pamph.,  1S79. 
Logs  of  wood  of  a  kind  unknown  in  Europe  have  floated  to  Spitzbergen.  These  derelicts 
must  have  suggested  to  the  Norsemen  the  existence  of  land  to  the  westward.  Dufferin, 
''High  Latitudes,"  i8g. 


12  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

these  could  be  beaten  olY,  or  what  rich  spoils  might  be  had  on  the 
southern  downs.  Of  this  distant  portion  of  Albion  the  Norsemen  of 
that  early  period  probably  knew  little  or  nothing.  But  plunder  has 
ever  been  to  them  a  word  of  magic  charm;  so  that  in  the  course  of  a 
century  or  two,  when  their  colonies  in  the  northern  country  were  well 
established  and  strongly  fortified,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  they  had 
reconnoitered  the  coast  at  least,  to  the  Humber  on  the  east,  and  the 
Mersey  on  the  west,  sailing  up  all  the  firths  and  rivers,  picking  up  a 
few^  words  of  Gaelic,  and  capturing  such  spoil  as  fell  in  their  way. 

South  of  the  Humber  they  found  tribes  of  people  greatly  differing 
from  themselves;  shorter,  darker,  and  much  more  civilized,  or  as  they 
regarded  it, richer  in  moveable  property.'"'  Among  those  natives, wdiom 
the  Romans  afterwards  called  Brigantes,  ^'  were  to  be  observed  some 
refugees  belonging  to  tribes  of  the  southern  coasts,  whence  they  had 
been  expelled  recently  by  other  refugees  from  Belgium.  Availing 
themselves  of  the  information  gained  by  these  reconnaisances,we  may 
suppose  that  the  Norsemen  gradually  advanced  their  settlements  down 
the  coasts,  until  their  dominion  extended  to  the  Thames,  driving  the 
natives  before  them  and  seizing  their  possessions.  In  these  conflicts 
they  proved  themselves  to  be  inferior  to  the  tribes  previously  pos- 
sessed of  the  land  in  nothing  but  flocks  and  herds,  and  to  remedy  this 
inequality  was  probably  among  the  first  measures  which  distinguished 
their  early  polity.  As  for  stout  weapons  and  brawn  withal  to  wield 
them,  the  Norsemen  asked  no  odds  of  any  one,  whether  of  blue-blooded 
Brigante  or  parvenu  Gael,  whether  from  Rheims,  or  from  Soissons. 

It  was  whilst  these  adventurers,  whose  forefathers  had  sailed  from 
Brittia  and  Halgaland,  were  picking  their  way  southwards,  that  Julius 
Cresar,  at  the  head  of  40,000  veteran  soldiers,  landed  on  the  southern 
coast,  and  pressed  northwards.  Between  this  upper  and  nether  mill- 
stone, as  though  forecasting  the  manner  of  their  subsequent  destruc- 
tion, lay  the  pent-upon  Gaels  and  Belgians. 

Following  these  events,  after  the  interval  of  a  century,  came  the 
permanent,  the  Roman  conquest  of  Britain.  This  time  ic  was  not 
Julius,  wisely  content  with  determining  the  frontiers  of  the  empire, 
but  Claudius,  eager  to  celebrate  a  triumph  and  establish  the  worship 
of  the  emperors.  The  cost  of  forcing  this  religion  upon  Britain  was 
the  political  extinction  both  of  the  ancient  Gaels,  the  Belgian  refu- 
gees, and  the  lesini.     Then  the  upper  and  nether  millstones  came 

20  "  England  is  richest  in  moveable  property  of  all  the  northern  lands."  Knytlinga 
Saga,  c.  19. 

^'  Possibly  from  the  biga,  or  chariot,  which  they  used  in  battle. 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN.  I3 

together,  and  having  no  longer  any  native  grist  to  grind,  they  ground 
each  other. 

In  the  Goths  the  Romans  met  foemen  worthy  of  their  steel.  Other 
races  they  had  divided  and  assimilated;  the  Goths  were  rarely  di- 
vided and  never  wholly  subdued.  Their  peculiar  religion  kept  them 
together  and  upon  terms  with  other  Buddhic  tribes ;  whilst  their  phys- 
ical strength,  numbers  and  maritime  proficiency,  rendered  them  diffi- 
cult to  master.  So  long  as  the  Romans  kept  to  the  ancient  policy  of 
religious  toleration,  the  Goths  remained  on  the  best  of  terms  with 
them;  and  supplied  them  with  wives,  workmen,  citizens,  soldiers 
and  even  a  few  commanders.  Some  of  these  were  ennobled  by  the 
Romans  as  Counts  of  the  Saxon  Shore. 

The  fiercer  tribes  of  the  Goths,  theMgeatce,  Picts,  and  Scuites,made 
frequent  attacks  upon  the  Roman  settlements;  but  until  the  third 
century,  although  often  goaded  to  the  point  of  revolt,  the  Goths  within 
the  Walls,  whom  the  archaeological  remains  assure  us  must  have  formed 
the  principal  portion  of  the  tribes  subject  to  the  Romans,  remained 
at  peace  with  their  conquerors.  The  final  rupture  between  them  evi- 
dently originated  in  the  enforcement  of  the  official  religion.  The 
Gothic  races,  not  only  in  Britain,  but  also  in  every  other  province  in 
which  they  were  established,  absolutely  refused  to  submit  to  hier- 
archical government.  They  were  willing  to  obey  the  emperor,  and 
might  even  have  been  taught  to  worship  him;  but  to  regard  him  as 
equally  man  and  god,  or  both  as  earthly  sovereign  and  high-priest 
of  Heaven;  to  surrender  not  only  the  greatest  but  also  the  smallest 
of  their  affairs  into  his  hands,  or  what  was  still  worse,  into  the  hands 
of  the  numerous  interrftediaries  who  had  sprung  up  between  the  veiled 
Csesar  and  his  subjects;  was  more  than  Gothic  common  sense  could 
grasp,  or  Gothic  patience  endure.  In  the  third  century,  as  though 
by  a  concerted  signal,  the  entire  Gothic  race  in  Europe  rose  up  in 
arms  against  a  religion  which  they  could  not  understand,  and  a  gov- 
ernment too  distant  to  afford  them  either  protection  or  redress.  The 
Varangians  of  the  lower  Danube,  the  Vendians  of  Scythia,  the  Saxons 
of  the  Baltic  coasts,  the  Menapians,  and  the  Salian  Franks  of  the  Low 
Countries,  the  Maeatge,  Picts,  and  Norsemen  of  Britain,  all  allied  races, 
made  a  simultaneous  attack  upon  the  Roman  garrisons.  In  the  course 
of  two  or  three  centuries  the  remains  of  the  native  tribes,  who  had 
once  acted  as  buffers  between  these  mighty  forces,  were  everywhere, 
except  in  southern  Gaul,  and  Bcetica,  crushed  and  swept  out  of  sight. 

From  the  dust  of  this  conflict  sprang  the  Four  Great  Nations  who, 
between  them,  have  achieved  all  the  notable  results  of  modern  mari- 


14  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

time  discovery,  and  who,  as  a  token  of  this  naval  aptitude  and  su- 
premacy, to-day  command  both  shores  of  the  North  Atlantic;  the 
Angles,  the  Saxons,  the  Gaels,  the  Salian  Franks,  and  the  Normans, 
are  all  Gothic  races,  whose  common  parentage  has  hitherto  been  re- 
fused a  registry,  and  whose  common  characteristics  have  been  de- 
signedly disguised  and  kept  out  of  view. 

These  characteristics  are  the  capacity  of  great  physical  endurance, 
the  love  of  freedom,  of  home,  of  fireside,  the  fear  of  God,  an  abhor- 
rence of  plotting,  mystery,  or  subterfuge,  and  a  passionate  instinct 
for  the  sea.  Upon  this  Gothic  foundation  their  social  life  has  reared 
an  edifice,  whose  materials,  forged  in  the  civil  conflicts  of  the  ancient 
Roman  Republic,  but  buried  for  centuries  by  the  Roman  Hierarchy, 
were  at  length  recovered  and  employed  in  the  construction  of  the 
AVestern  kingdoms.  These  materials  are  Constitutional  Government, 
Supremacy  of  the  Law,  the  Right  of  Assemblage,  Representation  in 
the  Comitia,  Trial  by  Jury,  and  the  Restriction  of  the  Church  to  spir- 
itual affairs.  All  these  and  other  institutions  of  freedom,  for  the  most 
part  unknown  to  the  Goths  in  their  tribal  state,  were  by  them  resur- 
rected from  the  ancient  Commonwealth  of  Rome  and  implanted  in  the 
early  charters  of  France  and  England. 

"  The  Norsemen  deified  the  Sea-tempest  and  called  it  Aegir,  a  very 
dangerous  Jotun  and  now,  to  this  day,  on  the  river  Trent,  the  Not- 
tingham bargemen  when  the  river  is  in  a  certain  flooded  state  call  it 
Eager;  they  cry  out,  'Have  a  care,  there  is  the  Eager  coming! '  Cu- 
rious; that  word  surviving,  like  the  peak  of  a  submerged  world!  The 
oldest  Nottingham  bargemen  had  believed  in  the  god  Aegir.  Indeed, 
our  English  blood,  in  good  part,  is  Norse,  or,  rather  at  bottom,  Norse 
and  Saxon  have  no  distinction.  *  *  *  All  over  our  Island  we  are 
mingled  with  Danes  *  *  *  in  greater  proportion  along  the  East  Coast, 
and  greatest  of  all,  as  I  find,  in  the  North  Country.  From  the  Hum- 
ber  upwards,  all  over  Scotland,  the  speech  of  the  common  people  is 
still,  in  a  singular  degree,  Icelandic."  '*' 
*^  Thomas  Carlyle,  "  Hero  Worship." 


15 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    ROMAN    CONQUEST    OF    BRITAIN. 

Conquest  and  settlement — Formation  of  a  Romano-Gothic  race — Reaso/is  why  the 
history  of  Roman  Britain  is  commonly  slurred  over  or  suppressed — Division  of  the  lands 
of  Britain — Estates  granted — Treatment  of  the  Norse  and  GltsHc  natives — Quasi-feudal 
fiefs — Ecclesiastical  lands — Benefices — Mining — Opulence  of  Roman  Britain — High 
state  of  civilization — Roads — Fisheries — Drainage  of  the  Fens — River  dikes — Indus- 
trial establishments — Fortresses,  villas,  basilicse,  temples,  and  other  public  works — 
Security  of  life — Diversity  of  industries — Commerce — Corn  trade — Money — Irritating 
restrictions  imposed  at  Rome — Trades  and  trade  guilds—Merchants—Bankers— Learned 
Professions — Church — Law — Medicine — Navigation — Astronomy — Fine  Arts. 

IN  another  place  reasons  will  be  given  for  believing  that  the  Romans 
remained  in  possession  of  some  portions  of  Britain  until  a  much 
later  period  than  is  commonly  supposed.  For  the  present  it  will  be 
suiilicient  to  recall  the  commonly  accepted  belief  that  the  legions  held 
control  of  Britain  from  the  reign  of  Claudius  to  nearly  the  middle  of 
the  fifth  century,  that  is  to  say,  for  upwards  of  four  hundred  years. 
This  control  was  substantially  unbroken  and  continuous.  It  extended 
over  the  entire  island  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  Channel  north- 
wards to  the  prodigious  line  of  fortifications  and  battlements  known 
anciently  as  the  Outer  Wall  and  now  as  Graham's  Dyke.  Within  this 
area  the  Romans  established  a  provincial  state  whose  inabitants  dif- 
fered from  those  of  the  mother  country  chiefly  in  the  important  re- 
spect that  each  successive  generation  was  recruited  from  fresh  stock, ^ 
the  result  of  marriages  between  Roman  soldiers  drawn  from  every 
country  in  Europe  and  women  who  were  always,  or  nearly  always,  of 
Norse  descent.  The  product  of  these  unions  was  a  provincial  race,  which 
as  time  went  on  became  more  and  more  Gothic  and  less  and  less  Ro- 
man ;  so  that  at  the  period  when,  according  to  the  monkish  chronicles, 
Britain  was  suddenly  snatched  from  the  Romans  by  unconnected  bands 
of  barbarian  Goths  from  Denmark  and  Schlesvvig-Holstein,  the  prov- 
ince was  already  filled  with  a  Gothic  race  which  was  not  barbarian 
but  civilized  and  which  possessed  all  the  advantages  of  walls,  castles,  - 
fortifications,  arms,  equipment,   commissariat,  discipline,  superior 


l6  ANCIENT    HRITAIN. 

numbers,  and  unity  of  purpose.  The  shriek  of  despair  which  the 
chroniclers  have  transmitted  to  us  from  this  period  is  probably  one  of 
those  rhetorical  touches  which  characterizes  all  fabulous  or  semi- 
fabulous  history. 

The  Roman  government  of  Britain  having  lasted  at  least  four  cent- 
uries, why  is  it  that  this  period  is  usually  disposed  of  by  modern  writ- 
ers in  the  fewest  lines  and  that  in  some  historical  works  it  is  scarcely 
mentioned  at  all?  The  museums  and  antiquarian  collections  are  full 
of  objects  belonging  to  it.  Is  it  for  lack  of  interest  in  the  events 
of  the  period?  They  are  the  most  significant,  the  most  instructive, 
the  most  important  events  that  ever  happened  to  the  country  pre- 
vious to  the  thirteenth  century.  No.  The  true  reason  is  that  an)' 
examination  of  this  period  which  is  not  entirely  superficial  discloses 
facts  to  publish  which  would  jeopardize  the  popularity  of  the  book 
that  mentioned  them.  It  comes  to  this  then,  the  truth  having  been 
rendered  incredible,  unpopular  and  unprofitable — therefore  let  us 
continue  to  suppress  it. 

But,  as  Polybius  long  since  remarked,  history  which  is  not  founded 
upon  the  truth  is  an  idle  tale  that  may  serve  to  entertain  or  amuse, 
but  not  to  guide  or  instruct.  Such  history  is  now  out  of  date.  The 
world  is  moving  on.  New  political  situations  occur  every  day.  We 
want  actual  events,  pictures  of  actual  life,  actual  thoughts,  actual  pas- 
sions— in  a  word,  experience — to  pilot  us.  In  place  of  this  we  have 
been  offered  little  else  than  cloister  tales  made  readable  by  modern 
art:  medieval  mendacity  perpetuated  by  historical  romances. 

With  the  conquest  of  Britain  by  Claudius,  the  circle  of  the  Roman 
hierarchy  was  completed.  It  embraced  all  the  ancient  hierarchies  of 
the  Occident — Persia,  Assyria,  Egypt,  Greece,  Etruria,  and  Gaul. 
Outside  of  this  circle  there  appeared  to  be  no  organized  state  west 
of  the  Indies;  only  predatory  and  wandering  tribes,  attached  to  no 
particular  soil  and  united  by  no  general  polity.  In  these  and  many 
other  respects  the  wanderers  closely  resembled  the  northern  Indians 
and  the  relations  which  the  latter  bore  to  the  European  colonies  of 
America.  Passionately  fond  of  freedom,  brave,  strong,  fierce,  cun- 
ning, warlike,  and  inured  to  every  species  of  danger  and  privation, 
they  were  nevertheless  no  match  for  disciplined  men,  abundantly  pro- 
vided with  arms,  food,  and  the  resources  of  civilization;  and  in  the 
end  the  Indians  succumbed.  So  with  the  so-called  barbarians  of  Eu- 
rope. Barring  a  few  engagements  at  long  intervals,  in  which  the 
Romans  suffered  defeat,  the  latter  rarely  had  any  serious  difificulty  to 
repel  the  tribes  who  dwelt  beyond  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  and  the 


THE    ROMAN    CONQUEST    OF    liRITAIN.  17 

Outer  Wall  of  Britain.  We  shall  deal  in  another  place  with  the  so- 
called  barbarian  invasions  of  the  fifth  century;  meanwhile  what  is 
desired  to  be  conveyed  is  that  no  fears  of  barbarian  conquest  prevented 
the  Romans  during  their  occupation  of  Britain  from  freely  expending 
upon  the  improvement  or  embellishment  of  that  island,  its  numerous 
cities,  ports,  commercial  centres,  roads,  arteries,  and  channels  of  com- 
munication, all  the  capital,  art,  and  labour  they  had  at  command,  and 
for  which  employment  could  be  found. 

In  fact  the  antiquarian  remains  prove  that, after  a  brief  initial  period 
of  conquest  and  settlement,  Britain  acquired  all  those  elements  of 
civilization  and  progress  which  distinguished  the  mother  country  at 
the  same  period.  Martial  boasted  that  no  sooner  did  the  legions  con- 
quer Britain  than  Roman  civilization,  institutes,  and  literature  filled 
the  places  which  their  swords  had  made  vacant,  and  Juvenal,  that  even 
the  learningand  eloquence  of  Rome  was  extended  to  that  distant  prov- 
ince. When  the  neglect  of  modern  historians  in  respect  of  these  details 
is  borne  in  mind,thereader  may  perhaps  not  unwillingly  listen  to  some 
of  the  most  notable  results  of  the  Roman  conquest  of  Britain. 

Previous  to  this  event,  Britain  was  little  more  than  a  desert.  The 
island,  for  the  most  part,  consisted  of  forest,  moor,  and  fen;  the  clear- 
ings were  few,  mostly  upon  the  southern  coasts,  whose  inhabitants 
had  learnt,  through  intercourse  with  the  Phoenician,  Carthaginian, 
and  Greek  traders,  some  rudimentary  arts  of  civilized  life.  The  rivers, 
winding  through  a  rich  soil  and  without  the  restraint  of  dykes,  were 
bordered  by  extensive  marshes,  which  rendered  them  difficult  to  cross 
and  useless  for  transportation,  or  commerce.  The  products  of  the  soil 
were  limited  to  the  natural  grasses  upon  which  the  cattle  were  fed, 
and  to  a  scanty  crop  of  corn.  Add  to  these  resources  the  wild  coster, 
plum,  and  several  sorts  of  berries  and  nuts,  and  we  have  an  almost 
complete  inventory  of  all  that  the  land  yielded  to  support  human  life. 
The  numerous  fruits  and  vegetables  and  commercial  plants  which  now 
grow  with  so  much  luxuriance,  were  nearly  all  introduced  by  the  Ro- 
mans; the  peach,  apricot,  and  pear  from  Asia;  the  vine,  cherry,  and 
currant  from  Greece;  the  apple,  goosebery,  and  chestnut  from  Italy; 
the  walnut  from  Gaul. 

There  are  reasons  to  believe  that  in  the  settlement  of  Britain,  those 
native  chieftains  who  evinced  a  willingness  to  live  under  Roman  laws 
were  granted  something  like  feudal  fiefs,  which  were  to  last  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  incumbent  or  else  during  that  of  the  sovereign- 
pontiff  of  Rome  and  renewable  at  death.  Such  appears  to  have  been 
the  nature  of  the  estates  granted  by  Claudius  to  Prasutagus  and  Cogi- 


l8  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

danus.  'An  inscription  discovered  at  Chicliester  proves  that  Cogidanus, 
for  one,  ruled  as  Legatus  Augustus,  ''  and  it  is  more  than  likely  that 
Prasutagus  also  ruled  with  the  same  vicarious  title  and  powers. 

The  natives  who  proved  less  tractable  were  either  driven  off  or  re- 
duced to  vassalage  and  their  lands  seized  and  engrossed  by  the  fisc, 
or  sovereign-pontifical  treasury,  which,  after  appropriating  a  specified 
portion  of  them  to  the  service  of  the  local  temples,  leased  out  the  re- 
mainder to  the  veteran  troops  or  to  Roman  colonists,  both  of  whom, 
under  the  conditions  common  to  such  fiefs,  were  liable  to  military 
service.^  As  we  shall  see  farther  on, these  estates  were  afterwards  sub- 
jected to  the  management  of  the  proconsuls,  to  whom,  instead  of  to  the 
sovereign-pontiff,  as  formerly,  the  rents  and  military  service  became 
due. 

The  lands  donated  to  the  temples  were  also  leased  out,  because  since 
they  had  become  the  property  of  the  gods,  they  could  not  be  sold. 
As  the  ecclesiastical  profession  enjoyed  the  benefit  (beneficio)  of  ex- 
emption from  military  service,  these  lands  were  much  sought  after  by 
those  who  preferred  a  peaceful  to  a  military  life.  We  have  here  all 
the  materials  of  a  feudal  land  system.  Most  of  these  arrangements 
were  made  between  the  reigns  of  Claudius  and  Caracalla.  In  Mr. 
Coote's  interesting  work,  the  system  of  surveying,  allotting  and  mark- 
ing off  the  lands  by  stone  monuments  are  all  clearly  and  accurately 
pourtrayed.  Agriculture  was  pursued  so  systematically  that  in  Gaul 
the  Romans  used  machine-mowers  drawn  by  two  horses,  and  it  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  that  implements  equally  perfect  were  employed 
in  Britain." 

Next  in  importance  to  the  surface  rights  were  those  which  related 
to  mines.  Besides  "streaming"  for  tin  in  Cornwall  and  working  some 
small  alluvial  "washings"  for  gold  in  the  mountain-basins  and  river- 
valliesof  Wales,  there  are  no  evidences  of  any  mining  in  Britain  pre- 
vious to  the  Roman  settlement.  Then,  suddenly,  the  whole  island 
seems  to  have  been  ransacked  for  metals.  Subterranean  mines  of  gold, 
silver,  silver-lead,  silver-zinc,  tin,  copper,  iron,  lead,  coal,*  and  jet, 
were  opened  in  all  directions  and  attacked  with  an  energy  and  suc- 
cesswhich  it  is  difficult  to  measure  without  visiting  the  immense  dumps, 
heaps  of  debris  and  other  remains  left  behind,  some  of  which,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  iron  ore  refuse  heaps  at  Kangie,  have  been  reworked 

'  Tacitus,  Agric,  xiv.  -  Horsley,  Brit.  Rom.,  332. 

^  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  "  Eng.  Com.,"  i,  351,  supports  the  feudal  view  herein  talcen. 

*  Pliny,  xviii,  30;  Columella,  11,  21. 

^  The  Romans  worked  coal  mines  at  North  Benwelland  other  places  in  the  Tyne  valley. 


THE    ROMAN    CONQUEST    OF    BRITAIN.  19 

in  modern  times.  Quarries  of  chalk  and  building-stone,  lime-kilns, 
brick,  tile,  and  pottery  works,  were  established  in  almost  every  neigh- 
borhood which  has  since  been  utilized  for  similar  industries.  Within 
eighty  years  of  its  conquest  distant  Britain  was  important  enough  to 
merit  a  ceremonious  visit  from  the  divine  Hadrian;  and  sufficiently 
opulent  to  sustain  a  vast  local  expenditure  for  roads,  temples,  fortifi- 
cations, drainage-works,  river-embankments,  ports,  light-houses  and 
fleets. 

Rome,  like  the  hub  of  a  wheel  which  covered  Europe,  western  Asia, 
and  northern  Africa,  was  the  centre  of  a  system  of  highways  that 
extended  to  the  confines  of  civilization.  These  were  lined  with  guard 
and  posting-houses,  provided  with  relays  of  horses  ready  for  imme- 
diate service,  and  patrolled  by  rural  policemen.  The  highway  that 
ended  at  Boulogne  was  continued  at  Dover  and  went  beyond  York, 
crossing  the  North  Tyne  by  a  stone  bridge  whose  magnificent  abut- 
ments were  only  laid  bare  to  the  antiquarian  a  third  of  a  century  back. 
Branching  from  this  great  highway  were  numerous  others, which  pen- 
etrated to  all  parts  of  Britain.  These  roads  are  still  in  use  and  upon 
some  of  them  yet  stand  the  original  milestones  planted  there  seven- 
teen centuries  ago. 

If  we  turn  from  the  land  to  the  sea  we  shall  find  similar  marks  of 
Roman  industry  and  enterprise.  There  is  not  a  branch  of  fishing 
which  was  not  prosecuted.  A  Roman  harpoon  has  been  found  in  the 
skeleton  of  a  whale  25  feet  above  the  highest  tides  of  the  Forth,  "  a 
proof  that  the  animal  met  its  death  when  the  sea  rose  to  the  level  in- 
dicated by  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  quay  at  Cramond.'  Native  oysters 
of  Rutupice  or  Richborough  were  packed  in  baskets  and  sent  to  Rome, 
where,  as  Juvenal  tells  us,  they  took  high  rank  among  the  bivalves 
favoured  by  Italian  epicures.  **  The  cod,  ling,  salmon  and  herring  fish- 
eries were  all  pursued  on  a  large  scale.  Nothing  escaped  the  Roman 
fisc.  Even  the  size  of  the  ox-hides  received  for  taxes  was  narrowly 
scrutinized." 

Extensive  remains  of  draining  works  in  the  Lincolnshire  fens  have 

«Scarth,  iS. 

''  The  Roman  quay  at  Cramond  (the  Roman  Alaterva)  is  24^  feet,  in  one  place  26^ 
feet,  above  sea  level.  This  is  due  to  a  gradual  geological  upheaval  of  the  country,  which 
has  gone  on  from  time  immemorial  and  is  still  going  on  at  an  accelerated  rate.  For 
many  centuries  previous  to  iSio  the  annual  vertical  movement  was  about  one-fifth  of 
an  inch;  since  that  date  it  has  amounted  to  one-half  of  an  inch.  These  measurements 
have  been  ascertained  from  two  interesting  facts — first, the  wall  of  Antoninus,  originally 
carried  to  the  sea-level,  now  comes  to  an  end  at  a  point  26  feet  above  high  tide  (Emil 
■Reclus);  second,  the  position  of  the  skeleton  of  a  whale,  mentioned  in  the  text. 

®  Satires,  iv,  line  141.  *  Tacitus,  Annals,  lxxii. 


20  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

rewarded  the  search  of  antiquarians.'"  The  prosecution  of  these 
works  by  the  Romans  evince  the  scarcity  and  high  value  of  farm-lands, 
which  again  attest  the  large  area  already  under  culture  and  the  am- 
plitude of  the  agricultural  product.  River  embankments  known  to  be 
Roman,  to-day  line  the  shores  and  help  to  confine  the  waters  of  the 
Thames,  Ouse  and  other  streams.  Mills,  smelting-furnaces,  forges, 
smithies,  machine-shops,  armouries  and  industrial  works  of  various 
kinds,  arose  on  all  sides.  Around  these  works  grew  villas,  towns  and 
cities,  many  of  the  former,  in  a  more  or  less  ruined  condition,  still 
surviving.  Within  the  cities  were  erected  citadels,  temples,  basilicae, 
fountains,  baths,  pavements,  sewers,  statues,  shrines  and  other  pub- 
lic works  of  use  or  embellishment.  In  short,  as  Mr.  Kendrick  says 
of  Roman  York,  "The  antiquities  comprehend  all  the  apparatus  of 
a  civilized  and  even  luxurious  life;  and  show  that  side  by  side  with 
the  troops  of  the  garrison,  an  industrious  and  wealthy  population  had 
formed  itself." 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  the  Romans  who  went  to  Britain  were 
not  obliged  to  resign  themselves  to  a  life  in  the  bush.  Britain  was 
but  little  like  the  other  provinces.  Its  inhabitants  were  more  secure 
from  the  vicissitudes  of  war  than  those  nearer  the  capital;  they  were 
surrounded  with  similar  conveniences,  advantages  and  opportunities ; 
they  were  governed  by  the  same  laws  and  could  appeal  to  the  same 
gods.  The  visitor  who  saunters  through  a  British  museum  of  antiqui- 
ties cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  immense  number  and  variety 
of  objects  made  of  every  possible  material,  such  as  gold,  silver,  cop- 
per, lead,  iron,  steel,  brass,  bronze,  tin,  wood,  ivory,  tortoise-shell, 
mother-of-pearl,  horn,  bone,  jet,  stone,  glass,  clay,  terra-cotta,  wool, 
silk,  flax,  hemp,  leather,  and  feathers.  Many  of  these  articles,  es- 
pecially the  smaller  ones,  may  have  been  made  in  Italy  or  Gaul ;  most 
of  them  must  have  been  made  in  Britain.  Look  at  the  remains  of  the 
magnificent  temples,  basilicae,  theatres,  and  baths,  at  York,  Silches- 
ter,  Lincoln,  Wroxeter,  Bath,  St.  Albans,  and  Chichester.  These  stones 
were  evidently  cut  in  Britain,  they  evince  not  only  skill  and  taste,  but 
also  the  employment  of  capital  wherewith  to  purchase  the  materials 
and  pay  the  artists  and  labourers  who  cut  them.  Villas  with  ten  to 
forty  apartments,  the  roofs  covered  with  copper-plate  or  sheet-lead, 
the  court-yards  decorated  with  fountains  and  pictures,  the  interiors 
warmed  with  hypocausts,  the  whole  drained  by  spacious  sewers,  have 
been  found  in  many  places,  for  example,  at  Lincoln,  Wroxeter,  Cor- 

10  >>  Qy^  bodies  are  worn  out  in  clearing  woods  and  draining  marshes."     Galcagus 
to  the  Caledonians.     Tac,  Agric,  xxxi. 


THE    ROMAN    CONQUEST    OE    liRITAlN.  21 

lingham,  Chetworth,  Thorpe,  Silchester,  Cirencester  and  Bignor.   All 
these  works  must  have  been  the  product  of  provincial  skill  or  industry. 

The  Romans  could  hardly  have  failed  to  discover  the  advantages 
which  the  humid  climate  of  Britain  afforded  in  the  spinning  of  such 
textiles  as  wool  and  silk.  Woolen-mills  were  worked  at  Winchester 
and  at  all  other  places  that  possessed  available  water  powers;  and  it 
is  not  too  much  to  suppose  that  the  texture  made  of  these  materials, 
which  Pliny  mentions  under  the  name  of  bombacine  and  which  still 
goes  by  that  name,  was  largely  made  in  Britain.  Certain  compara- 
tively obscure  products  must  alone  have  been  sufficient  to  employ  a 
large  number  of  workmen.  In  the  recesses  of  the  Mendip  Hills  re- 
mains have  been  found  which  indicate  that,  as,  in  America,  at  the 
present  time,  the  mines  were  lighted  with  candles.  Mining  was  con- 
ducted upon  so  extensive  a  scale  in  Roman  Britain  that  the  manu- 
facture of  candles  must  have  formed  no  small  industry.  Beer  was 
then  as  now,  the  chief  beverage  of  the  workmen.  The  breweries  must 
therefore  have  been  numerous  and  important.  Remains  of  tasselated 
pavements  and  mosaic  works  have  been  found  in  such  quantities  as 
to  bespeak  a  body  of  artists  and  an  organized  industry,  of  no  mean 
magnitude. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  provincial  Britain,  though  for  a  long  pe- 
riod carried  exclusively  in  Roman  bottoms,  was  of  great  dimensions. 
It  extended  to  Ireland,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Italy,  on  the  one  side;  and 
to  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark  and  Zealand,  on  the  other.  Romano- 
British  remains  have  been  found  in  all  these  places.  In  the  reign  of 
Augustus  a  Roman  fleet  visited  the  principal  parts  of  the  North  and 
Baltic  seas,  and  not  improbably  collected  the  information  which  fur- 
nished the  ground-work  for  the  "  Germania  "  of  Tacitus.  The  chief 
commerce  of  Roman-Britain  was  of  course  with  the  mother  country, 
-and  much  of  this  was  conducted  overland  through  Gaul  by  way  of 
Boulogne  or  Calais  and  Marseilles.  The  exports  of  Britain  were  chiefly 
tin,  gold,  silver,  jet-goods,  pearls,  lead,  chalk,  timber,  masts  and  spars 
for  ships,  corn,  hides,  peltries,  dried-fish,  oysters  and  hunting-dogs, 
of  which  last, Britain  produced  a  race  much  esteemed  in  Rome.  The 
imports  consisted  of  gold  coins,  bronze  "  S  C  "  money,  salt,  silk, fine 
pottery,  bronze  weapons,  tools,  implements,  utensils,  ornaments,  and 
trinkets, ivory  and  other  fancy  goods,  steel  weapons  and  cutlery,  works 
•of  art,  plants,  seeds,  wines,  and  dried  fruits. 

The  details  of  this  trade  doubtless  greatly  varied  from  time  to  time. 
]\Iany  commodities,  especially  those  made  of  bronze  or  copper,  which 
at  first  were  wholly  imported,  appear  to  have  been  afterward  manu- 


22  ANCIKNT    liRl'lAlN. 

faclured  in  liritain  and  eventually  became  profitable  to  export.  Such 
seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  glass  and  glasswares.  During  the 
first  centuries  of  the  Roman  establishment  in  Britain  it  is  probable 
that  the  imperial  fisc  managed  to  carry  out  its  colonial  policy  pretty 
rigidly,  and  this  was  to  monopolize  the  supply  of  manufactures  for 
the  province.  After  that  time,  the  province  appears  to  have  gained 
some  commercial  freedom,  only  to  lose  it  again  at  a  subsequent  pe- 
riod. The  exports  of  gold  from  Britain  were  comparatively  small, 
and  after  the  alluvions  were  exhausted  they  rapidly  diminished.  Those 
of  pearls  were  never  important.  The  corn  trade  grew  to  such  con- 
siderable dimensions  that  in  the  reign  of  Julian  the  Roman  troops  on 
the  continent  were  supplied  with  no  less  than  eight  hundred  cargoes 
of  grain  from  Britain,  in  a  single  season.  The  size  of  the  ships  em- 
ployed in  this  trade  can  only  be  conjectured.  Zosimus,  (lib.  iii,)  in- 
forms us  that  they  were  larger  than  common  barks. 

Edicts  were  issued  by  Augustus  and  Claudius,  and  probably  by  all 
the  sovereign-pontiffs  of  Rome,  which  forbade  any  kind  of  bronze 
money  from  being  used  in  the  provinces,  except  that  which  was  struck 
by  the  government  at  Rome.  As  such  money  formed  the  commonest 
medium  of  exchange,  this  regulation  must  have  had  a  powerful  influ- 
ence upon  the  affairs  of  Britain.  This  subject  will  be  discussed  in 
another  place.  During  the  sixteenth  century  similar  restraints  were 
imposed  by  the  Spanish  government  upon  the  colonies  in  Mexico  and 
Central  and  South  America.  This  unwise  example  was  afterwards 
followed  by  Great  Britain  with  reference  to  its  colonies  in  North 
America,  a  policy  that  led  to  the  establishment  of  unlawful  banks,  un- 
lawful mints,  and  the  coinage  of  Pine-tree  shillings.  Efforts  of  the 
Crown  to  suppress  these  establishments  first  gave  birth  to  that  popular 
irritation  and  defiance  of  the  royal  authority  in  Massachusetts,  which 
eventuated  in  the  Outbreak  of  1775."  What  followed  the  adoption 
of  this  policy  in  Roman  Britain  does  not  appear  from  any  extant  texts ; 
we  only  know  that  about  A.  D.  280  there  was  a  revolt  and  (for  the  first 
time)  a  provincial  mint. 

The  industrial  classes  of  the  Romans  in  Britain  embraced  farmers, 
herdsmen,  clerks,  merchants,  manufacturers,  miners,  tradesmen,  me- 
chanics, labourers,  fishermen,  carriers,  publicans,  apothecaries,  porters, 
stevedores,  marketmen,  hucksters,  shipbuilders,  sailors,  and  others. 
Barbers,  bathers,  and  domestic  servants,  were  very  numerous.    The 

''  This  policy  is  now  abandoned.  Local  mints  exist  in  both  India  and  Australia, 
Nevertheless,  through  the  operation  of  the  Acts  of  1666  and  1S12,  the  control  of  the 
monetary  system  still  remains  with  the  mercantile  community  of  London.  On  this  sub- 
ject consult  the  author's  "  History  of  Money  in  America." 


THE    ROMAN    CONQUEST    OK    BRITAIN.  23 

merchants  seem  to  have  been  specialized  almost  as  much  as  tney  are 
at  the  present  day,  except  perhaps  in  very  large  cities.  For  example, 
in  1647,  a  Roman  votive  altar  was  discovered  near  Domburg,  in  Zea- 
land, which  had  been  erected  by  Silvanus  Secundus,  evidently  a  Ro- 
man citizen  of  Gothic  descent,  who  described  himself  as  a  "Brittiau 
chalk  merchant." ''^  ' 

Next  in  social  importance  to  the  merchants,  and  in  later  and  more 
degenerate  times,  before  them,  ranked  the  money-brokers,  who  ex- 
changed the  over-valued  "S  C"  bronze  money  minted  in  Rome  and 
used  in  Britain,  for  the  gold  and  silver  bullion  intended  for  export,  or 
the  gold  and  silver  coins  employed  in  commerce.  There  was  a  bank- 
ing class  in  Rome,  but  it  was  probably  absorbed  by  the  Pontificate 
before  Britain  was  permanently  settled.  A  governmental  Monetary- 
Commission,  consisting  of  three  bankers,  was  formed  so  early  as  B.  C. 
218.  Six  years  later,  afire  which  broke  out  near  the  Forum,  destroyed 
several  banking-houses.  In  the  reign  of  Augustus  certain  of  these  in- 
stitutions were  called  the  New  Banks.  In  that  of  Tiberius  a  monetary 
stringency  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  pontifical  bank  with  a 
capitalof  onehundredthousandgreat  sestercesandpower  to  lendmoney 
on  the  security  of  lands  worth  double  the  sum  loaned.  After  this  time 
we  hear  no  more  of  banks  until  the  fall  of  the  Sacred  empire  in  1204. 
During  the  intervening  centuries  the  monetary  system  of  the  empire 
was  substantially  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign-pontiff;  who  thus  be- 
came the  Sole  banker  of  Europe.  The  sacred  character  which  the  Ro- 
man religion  attached  to  gold, enabled  the  Sacred  emperor  to  preserve 
this  and  a  few  other  regalian  rights  from  being  exercised  by  the  pro- 
consuls or  feudal  princes,and  in  his  palsied  hands  they  remained  until 
the  last. 

The  learned  professions  in  Britain  included  the  church — that  is  to 
say,  bishops,  curates,  augurs,  clerks,  monks,  and  other  ecclesiastics — 
the  law,  medicine,  surgery,  the  army,  the  navy,  astronomy,  astrology, 
pedagogy,  natural  sciences, civil  and  mining  engineering,architecture, 
literature,  sculpture,  painting,music,engraving,die-sinking,  lapidary- 
work,  the  drama,  oratory,  and  other  avocations.  The  Roman  law  was 
too  ample,  intricate,  and  refined  to  be  administered  without  the  aid  of 
a  regularly  constituted  bench,  and  a  faculty  of  advocates,  students, 
notaries,  and  other  officials;  and  these  may  therefore  be  safely  in- 
cluded among  the  professions  practised  in  Britain.  Papinian,  one  of 
the  ablest  lawyers  of  Rome,  was  in  the  train  of  Septimius  Severus,  and 

12  Wright's  "  Celt,  Roman,  and  Saxon."  Mr.  Wright  has  translated  "  Brittian  "  as 
"  British,"  but  both  Prof,  de  Vit's  exposition  and  the  fact  that  the  altar  relates  to  the 
arrival  of  a  cargo  of  chalk  prove  that  it  relatesto  Brittia,  or  Jutland,  and  not  to  Britain. 


24  ANXIF.NT    IIRITAIN. 

lie  oiificiatcd  as  advisor  to  the  emperor's  son,  Geta.  During  the  ab- 
sence of  the  emperor  in  North  Britain,  (ieta  acted  as  Legate  at  York, 
where  Papinian  is  believed  to  have  founded  a  law  university  ;  for  there 
lingered  in  that  capital  a  school  of  Roman  law  in  639,  which  we  hear 
of  again  in  804.  Papinian's  university,  if  it  ever  existed,  must  have 
soon  dropped  into  ecclesiastical  hands,  and  from  an  university  fallen 
to  the  rank  of  a  canonical  college.  Even  during  the  interval  when 
Britain  freed  itself  from  the  dominion  of  Rome,  the  ancient  laws 
prevailed,  only  now  they  were  modified  and  administered  by  local 
authorities.  When  Christianity  was  introduced,  the  Roman  authority 
and  the  Roman  laws  were  restored  and  made  permanent.  That  these 
laws  afforded  to  the  citizen,  if  not  liberty,  at  least  an  ample  measure 
of  security,  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Coote,  himself  a  lawyer  and  a  close 
student  of  the  Roman  antiquities  of  Britain. 

Medicine  has  left  memorials  at  Colchester,  where  Doctor  Hermo- 
genes  has  perpetuated  his  name  and  title  upon  an  altar,  and  at  House- 
steads,  in  Northumbria,  where  a  monumental  stone  commemorates  a 
young  medical  practitioner  named  Anicius.  Navigation  is  evidenced 
not  only  by  the  fact  that  a  regular  commerce  was  carried  on  in  sailing- 
vessels  with  the  Baltic  and  Mediterranean  ports,  but  also  by  the  cir- 
cumstance that  ^sclepiodotus,a  military  prsefect  and  naval  lieutenant 
under  Constantius,  conducted  his  fleet  from  lessoriacum  (Boulogne) 
to  Britain,  in  a  storm,  and  with  a  side  wind:  thus  proving  that  ships 
at  that  time  could  sail  on  a  bow-line.  This  is  a  refinement  in  navigation 
which  at  a  later  period  the  Norsemen  copied  from  the  Romans.  Mean- 
while, whenever  the  wind  was  not  aft,  the  early  Norse  navigators  were 
obliged  to  use  their  sweeps  as  a  means  of  propulsion.  Mr.  Coote  claims 
that  many  of  the  nautical  terms  in  use  at  the  present  day  had  a  Roman 
origin;  an  opinion  to  which  Roman  proficiency  in  navigation  lends 
great  plausibility. 

Astronomy  was  cultivated  with  much  assiduity  by  the  learned  classes 
of  Rome  and  her  provinces.  They  were  the  inheritors  of  the  entire 
body  of  Oriental  and  Greek  learning  on  this  subject.  Thales  had 
demonstrated  the  sphericity  of  the  earth;  Pythagoras  had  calculated 
its  motions ;  Meton  had  his  name  attached  to  the  Indian  cycle,  which 
was  employed  to  foretell  eclipses;  Eratosthenes,  by  actually  measur- 
ing the  arc  of  a  meridian,  determined  the  circumference  of  the  earth 
at  252,000  stadii,  or  about  28,000  English  miles;  Strabo  alluded  to 
its  sphericity  as  a  well-known  fact;  and  Pliny,  whose  Natural  History 
must  have  been  in  the  library  of  every  cultivated  person  in  Britain, 
said:    "I  do  not  suppose  that  the  land  is  actually  wanting,  nor  that 


THE    ROMAN    CONQUEST    OF    BRITAIN.  25 

the  earth  has  not  the  form  of  a  globe,  but  that  on  each  side,  the  un- 
inhabitable parts  have  not  yet  been  discovered. "  The  work  of  Ptolemy 
the  Younger  also  maintained  that  the  earth  was  spherical.  Indeed, 
ages  before  this  time,  Herodotus  had  remarked  that  the  sphericity  of 
the  earth  was  a  belief  derived  from  astronomical  observation,  which 
was  yet  to  be  verified  by  an  actual  voyage.'^  If  the  Romans  did  not 
make  such  a  voyage,  they  nevertheless  coasted  along  the  south  of  Asia 
to  Ceylon,  and  the  north  of  Europe  to  the  vicinity  of  Bergen;  whilst 
they  coasted  the  shores  of  eastern  Africa  as  far  south  as  the  Mozam- 
bique. They  also  bequeathed  to  the  Norsemen  the  belief  in  spher- 
icity, as  well  as  the  practical  art  of  sailing  on  a  bow-line;  and  the 
latter,  by  the  aid  of  both  the  belief  and  the  invention,  crossed  the 
Atlantic  ocean  and  discovered  Greenland  and  America.  Says  the 
Ynglinga  Saga,  a  work  of  the  ninth  century :  ' '  The  round  of  the  earth 
on  which  men  dwell  is  much  cut  by  the  sea,  large  seas  stretch  from 
the  outer  sea  round  the  earth,  into  the  land."" 

That  intoxication  of  religious  belief  which  enabled  a  Greek  or  an 
Italian  to  worship  images,  provided  their  names  and  attributes  were 
changed  to  suit  the  prevailing  mythology,  seems  to  have  been  entirely 
foreign  to  the  provincials  of  Britain.  There,  the  large  admixture  of 
Norse  blood  kept  the  people  sober,  and  when  emperor-worship  and 
other  paganisms  came  to  an  end,  nearly  everything  was  destroyed 
which  perpetuated  the  ancient  idolatries.  Hence  the  few  sculptures 
or  castings  that  remain.  Among  these  must  be  included  the  fine  bronze 
head  of  Hadrian  recovered  from  the  Thames  and  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  The  statues  of  the  other  gods  were  destroyed,  broken  to 
pieces,  melted  down,  or  cast  it  into  the  rivers.  The  Mithraic  monu- 
ments at  York  and  Newcastle  are  chiefly  of  the  third  century,  which 
is  probably  also  the  cera  of  the  Mithraic  cave  at  Barcovicus.  Their 
rudeness  proves  that  they  were  not  sculptured  for  the  established 
church  of  that  period,  but  for  the  people.'^ 

'^Herodotus,  Melpomene,  8. 

'''Ynglinga  Saga,  chap.  1.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  Norsemen  erected  the  follow- 
ing remarkable  monument  on  the  western  shores  of  the  Atlantic  ocean.  It  was  a  stone 
slab,  found  in  1824,  on  the  island  of  Kingiktorsoak,  in  Baffin's  Bay.  latitude  72  degrees 
54  seconds,  longitude  56  degrees  west  of  Greenwich,  the  inscription  being  in  runes: 

ELLIGR   •  SIGVATHS   •  SON  :  R   •  OK   •  BJANNI  :  TORTARSON: 
OK  :  ENRITHI    •  ODDSSON  :  LAUKARDAK   •  IN  :  FYRIR   GAKNDAG 

HLOTHV   •  VARDATE   •  OK    RYDU   :  MCXXXV. 
*'  Erling  Sighvatsson  and  Bjarni  Thordassonand  Eindrid  Oddsson  on  Laugarday,  (an- 
other name  for  Saturday)  before  Gangday,  raised  these  marks  and  cleared  the  ground, 
1135"  (Bishop  Percy's  Supplement  to  Mallet's  "Northern  Antiquities,"  p.  24S). 

'^  See  the  altars  to  these  gods  in  the  Catalogue  of  the  Blackgate  Museum,  at  Newcastle. 


26 


CHAPTER  III. 

LANGUAGE,    LAWS,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION. 

Universality  of  the  Roman  language — Of  the  Civil  Law — Of  the  ancient  religion  and 
government — These  were  impersonal  institutes  under  the  Commonwealth — They  be- 
came personal  and  local  ones  under  the  empire — Yet  long  after  the  establishment  of 
the  empire  the  ancient  influences  prevailed — Example  from  the  tenure  of  lands — The 
empire  introduced  feudalism — Yet  feudalism  did  not  assume  characteristic  forms  until 
near  the  period  of  the  Gothic  revolts — Same  with  the  Augustan  religion — Reason  why 
Romano-British  antiquities  evince  artistic  degeneration — No  evidences  of  degeneration 
in  the  social  state  of  Britain — Moral  attributes  of  the  Romano-British — No  archeeological 
evidences  of  Christianity  in  Britain  during  the  Roman  ?era. 

THE  Roman  language  was  one  and  wherever  the  legions  penetra- 
ted, the  native  tongues  soon  fell  into  disuse  and  gave  place  to  the 
sonorous  and  flexible  speech  of  the  conquerors.  When,  centuries  later, 
the  Roman  towns  were  governed  by  provincial  Gothic  chieftains,  lan- 
guage afforded  to  the  vanquished  imperialists  a  refuge  which  their 
ramparts  had  denied.  The  conflict  of  tongues,  though  fierce  at  first, 
soon  resulted  in  grinding  to  pieces  the  Gothic  upon  the  polished  sur- 
face of  the  Latin ;  and  the  English  of  to-day  at  once  attests  and  meas- 
ures the  supremacy  of  the  latter.' 

The  Roman  law  was  one,  and  it  prevailed  over  the  whole  empire. 
It  was  embalmed  in  written  codes  of  high  antiquity  and  gradual  growth, 
the  result  of  many  ages  of  practical  experience  and  refinement  in  the 
administration  of  justice.  It  was  open  to  all,  it  proclaimed  the  rights 
of  all,  it  refused  protection  to  none.''  It  not  only  defined  the  rights 
of  Romans,  it  determined  the  relations  between  Romans  and  others; 
and  thus, except  in  strictly  local  cases,  it  concerned  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  the  empire. 

'  Because  the  Gothic  words  ox,  sheep,  and  calf  express  live  animals,  and  the  Latin 
words  beef,  mutton,  and  veal  express  dead  ones,  the  pitiful  inference  has  been  made 
of  virility  in  one  language,  and  of  poverty  and  exhaustion  in  the  other.  But  this  is  so 
far  from  being  true  that  the  Gothic  language,  in  its  barrenness,  had  no  words  to  dis- 
tinguish the  flesh  of  these  animals  from  their  living  bodies,  whilst  the  Latin  language 
in  its  ample  wealth,  had  both.  See  De  Quincey,  XI v,  151,  as  to  the  great  value  of  our 
Roman  inheritance  of  language. 

*  "  It  granted  equal  rights  to  all,  and  closed  against  none  the  path  of  honourable 
ambition."  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire,  p.  370. 


LANGUAGE,    LAWS,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  37 

At  the  period  of  the  provincial  revolts  in  Britain,  the  Roman  law 
was  pagan,  it  consisted  of  ancient  acts  of  the  Comitia  or  of  the  Senate, 
or  of  both  combined,  of  imperial  ordinances  and  rescripts,  of  ecclesi- 
astical regulations,^  of  the  equity  of  the  praetors, and  of  other  juridical 
materials.  The  amplitude  and  complexity  of  this  vast  body  of  law 
unfitted  it  for  use  by  the  provincials.  After  an  abortive  attempt  to 
rule  the  provinces  by  means  of  the  mixed  codes  that  had  grown  up 
since  their  conquest,  Theodosius  met  their  wants  more  fitly  by  pro- 
mulgating a  simpler  code,  which  they  utilized  for  the  basis  of  their 
subsequent  legislation.  However,  this  too  gave  way  at  last  to  the  older 
Roman  law. 

Whilst  the  Roman  language  and  the  civil  law  were  the  same  in  all 
parts  of  the  empire,  the  Roman  imperial  religion  gave  rise  to  a  degree 
of  discontent  which  was  unknown  to  the  polytheistic  religions  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Whilst  the  language  and  the  civil  law  were  imper- 
sonal and  the  circuit  courts  carried  the  administration  of  the  latter 
into  every  corner  of  the  Roman  world,  the  imperial  canon  law  was 
essentially  personal  and  local.  It  emanated  from,  and  centered  in,  the 
city  of  Rome;  it  bound  the  people,  not  by  mutual  obligations  to  each 
other  in  all  places,  but  in  fealty  and  service  to  the  sovereign-pontiff 
at  Rome;  it  permitted  the  worship  of  ancient  gods  and  local  deities, 
but  only  in  the  manner  and  with  the  ritual  prescribed  at  Rome.  The 
Latin  language  and  the  civil  law  were  of  the  highest  antiquity,  they 
came  from  the  Commonwealth.  The  imperial  government  was  a  new 
establishment,  and  the  canon  law  was  greatly  altered  after  the  apo- 
theoses of  Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus.  The  former  arose  from  the 
people,  belonged  to  the  people,  and  kept  the  people  together;  the 
latter  arose  from  the  sovereign-pontiff,  belonged  to  the  sovereign- 
pontiff,  and  kept  the  people  apart.  Before  the  creation  of  the  hier- 
archical empire,  the  citizen  consulted  the  laws  to  ascertain  the  rights 
he  possessed  and  the  obligations  he  owed  to  his  fellowmen;  after  the 
establishment  of  the  empire  he  needed  only  to  study  those  that  af- 
fected his  relations  to  the  long  line  of  suzerains  which  ascended  to 
and  ended  with  the  sovereign-pontiff. 

Yet,  so  slow  is  the  march  of  innovation,  that  several  centuries  elapsed 
after  the  Roman  constitution  was  changed  by  Julius  Csesar,  before 

^  The  Roman  canon  law,  even  after  the  expulsion  of  the  kings,  largely  trenched  upon 
the  Civil  Code,  through  its  hold  upon  the  Code  of  Procedure  and  the  pontifical  control 
of  the  calendar.  All  this  was  broken  down  in  A.U.  449by  thecurule  a^dileCaius  Flavius, 
whose  name  should  ever  be  held  in  veneration  by  the  lovers  of  freedom.  Livy,  ix,  46. 
But  what  was  gained  for  the  popular  cause  by  Caius  Flavius  was  lost  again  when  Julius. 
Caesar  crushed  the  liberties  of  the  Roman  world. 


28  ANCIKNT    liRITAIN. 

ihe  influence  of  its  old  republican  Ict^islaticjn  was  entirely  lost.  Take, 
for  examjile,  the  feudal  system.  It  can  be  shown  that  this  must  neces- 
sarily have  begun  its  growth  on  the  day  that  Julius  Caisar  was  apotheo- 
sized; feudalism  and  hierarchical  government  being  essentially  re- 
lated. Proconsular  government,  vicarious  government,  renewable 
kingships  or  dukedoms,  telescopic  or  involved  castes  of  nobility, 
tenures  of  land  other  than  complete  ownership,  tenures  on  condition 
of  performing  military  or  other  service  to  any  other  person  than  the 
Head  of  the  State — all  these  are  feudal,  they  are  the  necessary  con- 
sequence.of  hierarchical  government,  and  have  followed  it  wherever 
it  has  been  established;  wdiether  in  Roman  Europe, Brahminical  Hind- 
ostan,  or  Aboriginal  Mexico.  Josephus  has  transmitted  to  us  the 
texts  of  several  charters  granted  by  Julius  Caesar  himself,  which  are 
essentially  and  undeniably  feudal.'  Why,  then,  if  feudalism  was  es- 
tablished with  the  hierarchy,  did  it  not  immediately  develope  into  that 
matured  and  complex  system  which  it  became  after  the  provincial  re- 
volts, and  while  yet  many  cities  in  Italy,  Spain,  Gaul  and  Britain 
remained  in  imperial  Roman  hands?  Because  of  the  influence  of  the 
ancient  Commonwealth,  whose  laws  and  customs,  despite  the  hier- 
archy, still  maintained  a  secret  hold  upon,  not  merely  the  people,  but 
their  rulers,  as  well. 

It  was  the  same  with  religion.  The  most  ancient  religion  of  Rome 
had  for  its  core  the  worship  of  ancestors.  Around  this  in  time  had 
clustered  the  religious  myths  of  every  race  that  Rome  admitted  into 
her  composite  structure.  Prominent  among  these  were  the  Greek  an- 
thropomorphic conceptions  of  the  Sun,  Moon,  Mars,  Mercury,  Jove, 
Venus,  Saturn,  Earth  and  other  heavenly  bodies.^  Beneath  all  lay 
hidden  the  subtle  myths  of  Brahma  and  Buddha.  Horsley  gives  a  list 
of  above  one  hundred  and  fifty  minor  deities  to  whom  votive  offer- 
ings were  made  in  Britain  and  made  in  much  the  same  way  that  similar 
offerings  were  afterwards  made  to  the  myriad  saints  of  a  later  myth- 
ology. Indeed  what  the  Romans  meant  by  a  minor  god  was  very  like 
what  the  medieval  Christians  meant  by  a  "saint."  Horsley  says 
nothing  about  the  worship  of  those  ancestral  images,  nor  of  the  im- 
ages of  their  emperors,  to  whom  the  pious  were  taught  to  address 
their  vows;  perhaps  because  being  commonly  made  of  wax,  they  did 
not  strictly  come  within  the  scope  of  "  antiquities."  Yet,  within  a 
few  miles  of  where  this  antiquarian  composed  his  great  work,  he  might 
have  observed  a  striking  instance  of  the  persistency  of  religious  cus- 

■*  Josephus,  Antiquities,  xiv,  lo. 

*  Uranus  was  not  discovered  (known  as  such)  until  17S1,  nor  Neptune  until  1846. 


■LANGUAGE,     LAWS,     GOVERNMENT,     RELIGION.  29 

toms.  In  an  obscure  chamber  of  Westminster  Abbey  were  grouped 
together  a  series  of  royal  images  in  wax,  which  although  of  course 
not  worshipped,  were  made  in  pursuance  of  that  ancient  Roman  cus- 
tom, which  religion  had  once  enjoined  and  which, wherever  the  Roman 
religion  had  prevailed,  had  probably  never  fallen  into  disuse.  In  that 
chamber  they  remain  to  this  day.* 

The  religion  established  by  Julius  Caesar  and  afterwards  by  Augus- 
tus, was  the  worship  of  himself,  as  the  son  of  God.  Temples  were 
erected  to  it  in  all  parts  of  the  empire;  a  vast  body  of  priests  and 
other  officers  were  appointed  to  perpetuate  its  rites;  innumerable 
benefices  of  lands  were  granted  to  its  temples :  immense  sums  of  money 
were  devoted  to  its  support;  and  the  lex  crimen  majestatis  was  em- 
ployed to  enforce  its  observances,  and  punish  heretics.  Yet  in  time 
it  all  fell  so  dead  and  flat  beneath  the  contempt  of  the  intellectual 
classes  and  the  inveteracy  of  ancient  custom,  that  only  the  lowest 
classes  of  Rome,  the  rabble,  the  pot-lickers,  the  corn-beggars,  the 
dead-heads  of  the  circus,  could  be  depended  upon  for  constancy  to 
the  new  and  repulsive  creed;  and  even  these  classes,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  generations,  had  to  have  the  nauseous  dose  sweetened  by  the 
worship  of  Julius  Caesar,  through  Venus,  and  of  Augustus,  through 
Maia,  his  pretended  mother.  We  find  Tacitus,  who  was  a  priest  of 
the  Sacred  College  and  therefore  sworn  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Julian  and  Augustan  worship,  holding  in  fact  to  the  ancient  worship 
of  Jupiter;  Pliny  swearing  by  Hercules;  and  Juvenal  scoffing  at  both.'' 
The  better  classes  of  Rome  no  more  adopted  emperor-worship  than 
did  the  Jews,  who  would  not  have  it  in  Palestine,  nor  the  leseni  un- 
der Boadicea,who  marched  to  a  certain  death,  rather  than  yield  sup- 
port to  its  hated  temples  in  Britain.  We  shall  find  this  provincial 
hostility  to  emperor-worship  of  the  highest  importance  in  restoring 
the  effaced  outlines  of  early  British  history. 

The  civil  liberties  of  the  Romans  had  begun  to  decline  before  the 
legions  improved  and  fortified  Britain;  hence  many  of  the  extant  Ro- 
man antiquities  evince  artistic  degeneration;  for  art  cannot  survive 
the  decay  of  liberty.   Yet  so  slow  was  the  progress  of  such  degeneracy 

*  Dean  Stanley. 

'  "  Hearest  thou  these  things,  O  Jupiter,  as  if  indeed  thou  wert  made  of  bronze  or 
marble?  As  for  thy  effigies,  I  can  perceive  no  difference  between  them  and  the  statue 
of  Bathyllus  the  Musician."  Juv.,  Sat.,  xiii,  114.  "  Our  home-bred  ancestors  knew 
no  better.  Formerly  there  was  no  carousing  among  the  gods,  no  Ganymede,  nor  Hebe 
to  be  cup-bearer;  while  Vulcan,  not  yet  feigned  to  quaff  celestial  nectar,  scoured  from 
his  arms  the  black  marks  of  his  Liparan  forge.  Each  god  then  dined  alone,  and  the 
present  rout  of  divinities  had  no  existence."    Juv.,  Sat.,  xil,  40. 


30  ANCIKNT    BRITAIN, 

that  for  more  than  a  century  after  the  Roman  conquest,  few  or  no 
evidences  of  it  are  to  be  observed.  The  arts  continued  to  flourish, 
life  and  property  remained  secure,  the  burdens  imposed  by  the  state 
do  not  appear  to  have  occasioned  any  outcry  or  remonstrance,  and 
but  few  irl<some  monopolies  of  trade  existed.  The  metallic  tribute 
demanded  from  Britain,  was  more  than  supplied  by  the  produce  of 
her  native  mines,  and  both  education  and  numerous  social  and 
industrial  opi)ortunities  were  open  to  every  citizen,  regardless  of 
race  or  religion.  Decay  is  first  observable  in  the  monuments  of  the 
second  century. 

The  pitiless  mendacity  of  bigots  has  almost  deprived  the  Romans 
of  moral  character.  Whether  of  Italy  or  Britain,  they  have  rendered 
the  name  of  Roman  pagan,  synonymous  with  everything  that  is  vile. 
The  bitter  invectives  of  Juvenal,  unmistakingly  aimed  at  the  abomi- 
nations of  the  capital,  these  bigots  have  applied  to  distant  London 
and  York,  which  probably  barely  heard  of  them.  In  this  manner  they 
have  blurred  and  falsified  all  the  lines  of  history.  But  no  unprejudiced 
person  can  read  the  fond  and  affecting  inscriptions  upon  the  ancient 
tombs  and  altars  of  Britain,  without  giving  the  provincial  Romans 
credit  for  as  much  truth,  love,  and  piety,  as  are  to  be  gleaned  from 
similar  evidences  of  our  own  times.  Mr.  Wright  publishes  a  great  num- 
ber of  these  inscriptions,  and  the  student  who  wishes  to  derive  from 
original  proofs  a  just  estimate  of  Romano-British  character,  must  read 
them  for  himself.  Whatever  may  have  been  its  rites,  customs,  or  cere- 
monies,the  monuments  of  Britain  indicate  that, in  practice,  the  Roman 
religions  promoted  the  observance  of  as  much  tenderness,  filial  affec- 
tion, benevolence,  pity,  charity,  decency,  and  sobriety,  as  are  known 
to  prevail  in  the  same  places  at  the  present  day.  There,  indeed,  came 
a  time  when  all  these  moral  traits  grew  fainter,  and  the  social  bond 
itself  was  dissolved;  but  this  appears  to  have  been  no  more  caused 
by  the  anciet  beliefs,  than  the  brutality  and  depravity  of  the  middle 
ages  were  caused  by  Christianity. 

The  names  found  upon  the  tombs  and  other  remains  of  tfie  Romans 
and  provincials,  afford,  when  rightly  studied,  a  valuable  guide  in  trac- 
ing the  decline  and  extinction  of  liberty  and  its  subsequent  restoration 
after  the  Fall  of  the  Eastern  empire.  The  Roman  ingenui,  or  free- 
born,  had  three  several  names,  theprasnomen,  nomen,  and  cognomen.  * 
The  prtemonen,  or  given  name,  was  conferred,  as  now,  by  the  priest- 
hood, upon  the  nomination  of  the  parents.  The  nomen,  or  patronymic, 
was  the  name  of  the  gens,  tribe,  or  clan,  to  which  the  person  belonged. 

''Adams,  "Roman  Antiquities." 


LANGUAGE,     LAWS,     GOVERNMENT,     RELIGION.  31 

The  cognomen,  surname,  or  family  name,  was  hereditary.  Slaves  had 
no  family  names.  Both  they  and  their  children,  together  with  what- 
ever tliey  possessed,  belonged  to  their  owners;  slaves  could  transmit 
nothing,  not  even  a  name.  Under  the  Commonwealth,  they  were  com- 
monly called  after  their  masters.  Under  the  empire,  they  were  some- 
times called  after  their  country,  as  Danicus,  Syrius,  or  Tagus;  and 
sometimes  by  capricious  or  even  derisive  names.  When  manumitted, 
they  commonly  took  the  nomen  of  their  masters, but  not  the  cognomen. 
Upon  the  early  Roman  remains  of  Britain  the  occurrence  of  three 
names  upon  a  tombstone  is  quite  common;  upon  the  later  remains 
there  are  seldom  more  than  two;  and  frequently  but  one  name.  From 
the  establishment  of  the  Medieval  empire  under  Charlemagne  to  the 
Fall  of  Constantinople  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  of  Britain  had  no  family  names;  a  sure  indication  of  their 
servile  condition. 

Notwithstanding  the  many  volumes  that  have  been  written  on  the 
subject,  and  in  which  the  prevalence  or  practice  of  Christianity  during 
the  occupation  of  Britain  by  the  Roman  legions  is  assumed,  no  valid 
evidences  have  been  adduced  in  its  support.  No  temple,  no  altar,  no 
tombstone,  no  inscription,  no  book,  no  mark,  no  symbol  of  any  kind, 
has  yet  been  found  which  contains  any  certain  evidence  of,  or  allusion 
to,  Christianity.  The  Romans  entered  Britain  both  before  and  after  the 
beginning  of  our  aera.  They  came  not  only  from  Rome  and  Byzantium, 
but  also  from  numerous  other  parts  of  the  empire.  The  temples  and 
tombstones  of  the  Romans,  their  altars,  graves,  personal  relics,  coins, 
furniture,  decorations,  all  prove  that  Christianity  was  unknown.  Down 
to  the  moment  when  the  troops  departed  from  Britain,  the  people 
offered  sacrifices  and  inscribed  their  last  pious  wishes  to  Jupiter, 
Bacchus,  Serapis,  or  Mithra,  gods  who  had  been  worshipped  from 
very  ancient  times.  The  degrading  worship  of  emperors  had  fallen 
into  disuetude.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  after  a  careful  examination  of 
all  the  literary  materials  bearing  upon  the  subject,  finds  no  valid  evi- 
dence that  the  British  tribes  ever  heard  of  Christianity.  The  earliest 
evidences  of  Christianity  in  Britain  relate  to  the  romanized  Britons, 
chiefly  of  the  higher  ranks,  and  (he  might  have  added)  therefore  those 
to  whom  the  official  religion  of  emperor-worship  was  most  repugnant.' 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Bruce  sums  up  the  case  in  a  few  words.'"  After  ad- 
mitting the  absence  of  any  Christian  memorials  in  the  Roman  remains 
he  says:  "  We  meet  the  cross  in  several  of  its  forms, but  it  is  admitted 
on  all  hands  that  the  cross  and  even  the  famed  cipher  p  or  X  P  are  - 

''Palgrave's  "English  Commonwealth,"  i,  154.     '"Bruce,  "The  Roman  Wall,"  p.  11. 


32  ANCIENT    liKlTAIN. 

emblems  older  than  Christianity.  Their  appearance  on  monuments 
prior  to  the  time  of  Constantine  cannot  be  regarded  as  emblems  of 
the  Christian  profession.  Neither  do  we  meet  with  any  other  indica- 
tion of  the  adoption  of  the  verities  of  revelation  by  the  romanized 
Britons." 

Mr.  Thomas  Wright  goes  even  farther  than  this  and  claims  th.it 
Christianity  was  not  known  in  Britain  until  a  period  much  later  than 
the  Gothic  revolts.  "The  rites  of  Odin  or  Wodin  were  brought  by 
these  barbarians  from  Scandinavia  and  the  Continent;  and  an  emi- 
nent antiquarian  says  that  after  the  conquest  of  Britain,  Saxon  pagan- 
ism was  everywhere  substituted  for  Roman,  and  it  was  only  perhaps 
in  a  few  cases,  chiefly,  we  may  suppose  in  the  towns,  that  individuals 
preserved  for  a  while  their  respect  for  Roman  gods,  or  their  attach- 
ment to  Roman  ceremonies. "  After  mentioning  that  in  one  case  what 
at  first  sight,  appeared  to  be  Christian  emblems,  were  found  in  a 
"clearly  pagan  interment"  and  in  others,  similar  emblems  with  By- 
zantine and  Frankish  coins, cowries  from  the  Orient  and  other  articles 
imported  from  foreign  countries,  he  disposes  of  the  subject  with  the 
warning  that,  "approaches  to  the  cross-shape  in  fibulae,  ornaments, 
and  safety-pins, worn  on  the  person  or  attached  to  the  clothing,  found 
in  Saxon  graves,  must  not  be  taken  to  prove  any  connection  with 
Christianity, "  because  the  cross  is  much  more  ancient  than  Christianity, 
and  because  other  and  more  convincingcircumstances  prove  the  graves 
to  be  those  of  pagans. 

The  substance  of  all  the  antiquarian  evidence  and  of  all  the  valid 
literary  evidence  on  the  subject  is  that  Christianity  did  not  make  its 
appearance  in  Britain  until  the  period  of  Pope  Gregory's  missionaries 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  that  it  did  not  obtain  a  general  footing  in 
the  Island  before  the  sera  of  Charlemagne.  When  it  did  appear,  it 
made  its  mark  upon  every  institution  of  society.  The  distinguishing 
trait  of  the  Christian  religion — one  that  some  doctors  of  divinity  seem 
to  have  strangely  overlooked — is  its  capacity  of  improvement,  its 
adaptability  to  the  ever  changing  conditions  of  society,  and  to  the  va- 
ried wants  and  aspirations  of  man.  This  is  the  Roman  part  of  it,  the 
legendary  part  is  Buddhic,  Gallic  and  Jewish;  the  ceremonies  are 
drawn  from  many  sources.  All  other  religions  are  fixed,  Christianity 
alone  moves  with  the  times.  Brahminism,  Brahma-Buddhism,  Juda- 
ism, Mahometanism,  all  are  fixed.  The  Brahmin  cannot  change  his 
caste,  nor  the  Brahmo-Buddhist  his  "vehicle."  The  Judean  dare  not 
alter  the  law  of  Moses,  nor  the  Moslem  the  Koran.  But  Christianity 
has  changed  an  hundred  times  and  will  change  an  hundred  more,  a 


LANGUAGE,     LAWS,     GOVERNMENT,     RELIGION.  33 

characteristic  that  is  alone  sufficient  to  ensure  its  survival  when  all 
codified  religions  shall  be  dead  and  forgotten." 

While  it  is  denied  that  Christianity  existed  in  Britain  previous  to  the 
pontificate  of  Gregory,  it  is  not  meant  that  none  of  the  symbols,  nor 
ceremonies,  now  employed  in  religious  worship  existed  before  that 
time.  On  the  contrary,  many  of  these  exoteric  marks  of  religion  were 
thus  employed,  but  they  are  of  extremely  ancient  date,  they  were  em- 
ployed long  before  the  Christian  xva.  and  they  were  continued  to  be 
employed  afterwards;  so  that  their  employment  by  one  sect  or  an- 
other has  been  continuous  for  twenty  or  thirty  centuries.  Therefore 
they  cannot  with  propriety  be  adduced  to  prove  either  the  introduc- 
tion or  the  establishment  of  Christianity.''' 

"  Contrasting  the  rules  for  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices  in  Leviticus  with  their  rejec- 
tion in  Psalms,  li,  i6,  Prof.  Max  Miiller  says:  "  There  is 'growth  here,  as  evident  as 
can  be,  however  difficult  it  may  be  to  some  students  of  religion  to  reconcile  the  idea  of 
growth  with  the  character  of  a  revealed  religion."  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion, p.  134. 
As  with  language,  so  "  religion  also  has  been  shown  to  exhibit  a  constant  growth  and 
developement,its  very  life  consisting  in  a  discarding  of  decayed  elements,  which  is  neces- 
sary in  order  the  better  to  maintain  whatever  is  still  sound  and  vigorous.  .  .  .  A  religion 
that  cannot  change  .  .  .  is  swept  away  violently  in  the  end."  p.  263.  .  .  .  "A  religion 
which  is  not  able  to  grow  and  live  with  us  as  we  grow  and  live,  is  dead  already." 
p.  3S0.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  after  opening  this  great  subject,  so  talented  and  influ- 
ential a  writer  should  have  trifled  with  its  conclusions,  in  the  manner  shown  a  little 
further  on  in  the  same  work. 

'*  For  crucifixes  deposited  in  the  ancient  temples  of  Benares  and  Mathura  and  other 
temples  on  the  Ganges,  see  Maurice's  Indian  Antiquities,  n,  361;  for  allusion  to  ancient 
crosses  in  the  Serapion  and  other  temples  on  the  Nile, see  the  works  of  Godfrey  Higgins, 
Rev.  R.  Taylor,  Rev.  A.Hislop,Rev.Dr.Reeves,and  SirWm.  Hamilton.  Nearly  every 
Egyptian  representation  of  a  god  (there  are  hundreds  of  them  in  the  British  Museum) 
holds  a  crucifix,  or  crook,  and  often  both  of  these  sacred  symbols,  in  his  hand.  These 
works  of  art  are  ascribed  to  teras  many  centuries  B.  C.  There  are  Gallo-Greek  coins 
in  the  same  collection, with  large  crosses  conspicuously  displayed  upon  them,  belonging 
to  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  B.  C.  The  Ptolemaic  Egyptian  coins  are  also  stamped 
with  crosses  as  sacred  symbols.  There  are  Roman  coins  older  than  the  Christian  a;ra 
which  display  the  cross  surmounting  the  sacred  hat  of  the  pontifex  maximus.  Indeed, 
it  is  well  known  now  that  crosses,  in  common  with  the  various  sacred  symbols,  not  only 
of  Christianity,  but  also  of  other  religions,  were  used  very  anciently  in  the  same  way, 
and  often  with  the  same  meanings  that  they  still  retain.  The  sacerdotal  punishment 
of  crucifixion  is  mentioned  in  Greek  and  Roman  laws  enacted  long  previous  to  the 
Christian  sera,  and  it  is  evident  that  there  could  have  been  no  crucifixion  without  a  cross. 
Astyges  crucified  the  magi.  Herodotus,  Clio,  128.  "  Inarus,  king  of  the  Libyans,  was 
betrayed  by  treachery  and  fastened  to  a  cross."  Thucydides,  (.Smith's  ed.,)  p.  85.  The 
use  of  the  cross  as  a  symbol  of  immortality  is  as  ancient  as  the  belief  in  the  incarnation 
of  lesnu  or  Vishnu,  that  is  to  say,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  centuries  B.  C. 


34 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM    AGRICOLA    TO    THE    SACK    OF    LONDON. 

Three  seras  of  Romano-British  progress — Absolute  proctorship  of  the  proconsuls — 
The  procurators — Agricola's  proconsulship — Construction  of  the  I  nner  Wall — Circum- 
navigation of  Britain — Conquest  of  Ireland — Commerce  of  London — Successors  of 
Agricola — The  two  races  of  native  Britons — Extinction  of  the  Gitlic  natives — The 
Roman  conscription — Construction  of  the  Outer  Wall — Zenith  of  provincial  prosperity 
— Frequent  revolts  of  the  Norse-Britons  against  emperor-worship  and  proconsular 
exactions — Irregular  pay  of  the  legions — Desertions — Rising  of  the  Norse  Ma^ata; — 
Removal  of  Roman  merchants  to  Gaul — Diminished  commerce  of  the  province — The 
emperor  Commodus — The  Norse-Britons  force  the  Outer  Wall — Mutiny  of  the  troops 
— Perrenius — Pertinax — Albinus — Disorders  of  the  empire — Virius  Lupus — Subdi^fi- 
sion  of  Britain — The  Norse-Britons  again  force  the  Outer  Wall — They  exact  "Dane- 
geld  " — Septimius  Severus  defeats  them — Further  disorders  of  the  empire — The  Mseatat 
again — Roman  Britain  governed  at  Treves — Defects  of  this  system — The  fleet  stationed 
at  Boulogne — Sack  of  London,  circ.  280 — The  Mcesian  and  Thracian  Goths. 

THE  archreological  remains  of  Roman  Britain  roughly  indicate 
three  periods  or  phases  of  developement  through  which  its  civ- 
ilization passed  before  the  occurrence  of  the  great  provincial  revolts. 
From  the  landing  of  Aulus  Plautius  to  the  government  of  Agricola, 
(an  interval  of  less  than  half  a  century,)  was  a  period  of  exploration 
and  settlement.  From  Agricola  to  the  Mutiny  in  187,  an  interval  of 
about  a  century,  was  a  period  of  growth.  Between  the  mutiny  of 
the  troops  and  the  provincial  risings  there  elapsed  two  centuries  of 
relative  decay.  One-half  of  this  period,  brings  us  down  to  that  Sack 
of  London  which  is  treated  in  the  present  chapter:  the  other  half  of 
the  period  marks  the  downfall  of  pagan  imperial  rule. 

The  revolt  of  Boadicea  is  attributed  by  Tacitus  chiefly  to  two  causes : 
First,  her  father,  Prasutagus,  king  of  the  lesenimanni,  leseni,  or  Iceni, 
had  amassed  considerable  wealth,  which  he  left  "by  his  will  to  his 
two  daughters  and  the  emperor,  in  equal  shares  " ;  but,  upon  his  death, 
the  imperial  procurator,  disregarding  the  will,  seized  the  estate  for  the 
Crown,  and  let  loose  a  band  of  soldiers  upon  the  property,  who  not 
only  pillaged  and  devastated  it,  but  committed  the  most  cruel  and 
dastardly  outrages  upon  the  persons  of  his  wife  and  daughters.  Second, 
"the  temple  erected  to  the  deified  Claudius,  which  to  the  eyes  of  the 
Britons  seemed  the  citadel  of  eternal  slavery, and  the  priests  appointed 


FROM    AdRICOLA    TO    THE    SACK.    OF    LONDON.  35 

to  officiate  at  the  altars,  who,  with  a  pretended  zeal  for  religion,  de- 
voured the  entire  substance  of  the  country."  ' 

Assuming  that  Prasutagus  was,  like  Cogidanus  of  Britain,  Ptolemy 
of  Egypt,  Antipater  and  Herod  of  Judea,  Deiotaurus  of  Galatia,  Tiri- 
dates  of  Parthia,  etc.,  a  vassal  king,  his  estate  legally  reverted,  at 
death,  to  the  emperor  of  Rome.  His  people,  in  refusing  to  yield  it 
peaceably  to  the  imperial  procurator,  therefore  placed  themselves  in 
the  wrong.  The  acts  of  violence  and  rapine  that  followed,  were  the 
usual  consequences  of  vassalian  resistance.  Like  Montezuma,  fifteen 
•centuries  later,  Prasutagus  probably  thought  but  lightly  of  the  flatter- 
ing compact  which  named  him  the  "ally,"  whilst  it  really  made  him 
the  vassal  of  Rome;  and  it  was  an  ill  turn  of  fate  that  compelled  his 
hapless  wife  and  daughters  to  expiate  so  cruelly  what  was  at  worst 
but  the  blunder  of  an  unlettered  and  semi-civilized  chieftain. 

The  erection  of  a  temple  to  the  deified  Claudius  in  the  principal  city 
of  the  leseni,  placed  the  Romans  in  the  wrong.  After  making  every 
allowance  for  that  zeal  of  proselytism, which,  whether  pagan  or  Christ- 
ian, has  ever  distinguished  the  imperial  church  of  Rome,  this  act 
constituted  an  unnecessary  and  gratuitous  insult  to  a  conquered  and 
unoffending  people.  Of  course,  the  temple  contained  a  statue  of  the 
god,  and  the  leseni  were  doubtless  obliged  to  revere  and  adore  this 
detested  idol  whenever  they  passed  it.  More  irritating  than  all,  they 
were  obliged  to  support  its  shiftless  priesthood  and  their  idle  retinue 
of  readers,  clerks,  and  sacerdotal  virgins.  There  was  no  excuse  for 
the  erection  of  this  fane,  there  was  no  native  idolatry  (from  the 
Roman  point  of  view)  to  suppress;  for  the  Romans  themselves  were 
divided  into  two  religious  sects,  the  polytheists  and  Julianists,  the 
former  of  whom  practised  a  religion  which  probably  resembled  that 
of  the  leseni.  But  the  time  was  changed,  it  was  the  reign  of  Nero,  him- 
self a  deity  of  thejulian  cult,  and  the  Romans,  who  had  formerly  placated 
a  conquered  world  in  the  name  of  Jove  the  Thunderer,  now  aroused 
it  to  indignation  by  dem.anding  the  worship  of  Claudius  curruca."^ 

The  revolt  of  the  leseni  has  a  deeper  significance  than  has  hitherto 
been  imagined :  it  was  the  first  protest  of  the  English  race  against  the 
hierarchy  of  Rome,  and  a  slow  but  inevitable  justice  will  one  day  raise, 
far  above  the  statues  of  all  its  long  line  of  saints  and  heroes,  the  mourn- 
ful but  resolute  figure  of  the  martyred  Boadicea.  ^ 

Until  Agricola  completed  the  conquest  of  the  Island,  the  Roman 

'  Annals,  xiv,  31.  -Juvenal,  Satire  vi,  line  275. 

^  The  revolt  of  Julius  Vindex  in  Gaul, which  occurred  a  few  years  after  that  of  Boadicea 
in  Britain,  seems  to  have  been  due  to  similar  causes  and  to  have  ended  thes  ame  way. 


$6  ANCIKNl'    1;KITAIN. 

soldiers  were  continually  employed  in  expeditions  against  the  natives, 
in  the  construction  of  forts,  castles,  and  military  roads,  and  in  the 
establishment  of  mining  works,  plantations,  and  small  settlements; 
and  although  they  were  aided  by  artificers  from  Gaul  and  by  the  rude 
labour  of  the  enslaved  natives,  the  work  of  the  soldiers  was  intense 
and  unremitting,  and  was  not  at  all  conducive  to  an  amiable  temper 
towards  the  conquered,  especially  those  who  differed  from  them  in 
religious  belief.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  attitude  of  the 
Romans  toward  the  South  Britons  was  afterwards  reflected  with  the 
greatest  fidelity  in  the  conduct  of  the  Spaniards  toward  the  aboriginal 
Mexicans  and  Peruvians. 

Beside  the  soldiers,  the  artificers,  and  the  women,  whom  the  former 
had  chosen  from  among  the  natives,^  the  Roman  settlements  at  this 
early  period  probably  embraced  only  the  civil  officers  of  government, 
the  priesthood,  a  few  exiles,  and  perhaps  also  some  mining  and  com- 
mercial adventurers  from  Italy.  In  addition  to  military  works,  the 
betterments  of  the  period  were  all  of  a  temporary  and  makeshift  char- 
acter, such  as  one  sees  at  the  present  time  in  Western  America :  rough 
roads,  staked  camps,  wooden  shanties,  "prospecting  holes,"  and  a 
careless,  expansive  tillage.  The  principal  city  of  the  province  was 
Camulodunum,  whose  restored  temple,  after  the  suppression  of  Bo- 
adicea's  revolt,  was  honoured  with  a  statue  of  the  deified  Nero.  It  also 
contained  a  theatre  and  a  public  bath.  At  the  same  date  Verulamium 
(near  the  modern  St.  Albans)  was  a  municipal  town  with  a  castle. 

The  occupation  of  Bath  is  assigned  to  so  early  a  date  as  the  year  53 
or  54,  and  thatof  Wroxetertothe  year  69.  The. former  date  is  deduced 
from  Tacitus,  the  latter  from  the  antiquities.  Common  sense  must 
decide  upon  their  historical  significance.  The  temple,  the  statue  of 
Nero,  and  the  theatre, at  Colchester,  as  well  as  the  castle  at  St.  Albans, 
may  all  have  been  of  wood.  Bath  and  Wroxeter  may  have  been  military- 
posts,  or  mining  camps.  Twenty  years'  occupation  of  a  wild  country 
hardly  affords  time  enough  for  the  erection  of  permanent  works  or 
edifices.  Boadicea's  warriors,  though  destitute  of  military  appliances 
of  their  own,  appear  to  have  had  but  little  difificulty  in  destroying  those 
of  the  Romans  at  Colchester.  All  these  evidences  indicate  temporary 
works  and  structures.  That  the  gold,  silver,  lead,  and  tin  mines  were 
worked  during  this  period  is  evident  from  the  pigs  of  lead,  and  silver-  ' 
lead  with  the  names  of  the  emperors  "Claudius,"  "  Nero,"  "  Ves- 
pasianus, "  and  "Domitianus,"  cast  upon  them,  and  from  the  well- 
known  order  in  which  these  metals  are  sought  for ;  alluvial  gold  always 
*  Tacitus,  Agricola,  xxiii. 


FROM    AGRICOLA    TO    THE    SACK    OF    LONDON.  37 

preceding  gold,  silver,  and  lead  in  veins.  But  such  early  working  of 
the  mines  only  confirms  the  general  rule  that  the  period  was  one  of 
e.xploration  and  settlement.  We  see  the  same  thing  to-day  in  South 
Africa.  Insurances  upon  ships  during  the  reign  of  Claudius  and  some 
other  evidences  of  an  apparently  permanent  state  of  affairs,  are  really 
invalid;  because  they  belong  not  to  Britain,  but  to  Rome.  The  close 
of  the  exploring  period  is  marked  by  the  completion,  in  78,  of  the  great 
highways  which  had  been  commenced  during  the  reign  of  Claudius. 
This  was  also  the  year  in  which  Agricola,  who  had  already  once  served 
in  Britain,  returned  from  Rome,  this  time  to  assume  the  proconsulship 
of  the  province. 

As  the  present  work  is  designed  rather  to  supplement  than  supplant 
the  accepted  histories,  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  those  evidences 
of  executive  ability  which  Tacitus  has  connected  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  father-in-law.  Other  testimony  assures  us  that  the 
account  is  substantially  true,  and  that  Britain  at  this  period,  more 
than  at  any  previous  one,  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  good  government. 
With  the  retirement  of  Agricola,  the  affairs  of  the  province  experienced 
a  great  change.  The  proconsuls  became  in  many  ways  essentially  ab- 
solute. Like  the  emperors,  their  masters,  they  no  longer  obeyed  the 
law,  but  made  it.  Proconsular  law  was  theoretically  subject  to  revision 
at  Rome;  but  so  long  as  it  did  not  affect,  or  threaten  to  affect,  the 
revenues  of  the  fisc  and  the  Sacred  College,  such  revision  was,  in  point 
of  fact,  but  rarely  made.  Under  the  circumstances,  it  would  be  strange 
if  the  proconsular  office  did  not  succeed  in  appropriating  for  itself  a 
share  of  the  revenues  subject  to  its  sway.  The  mines  probably  sufficed 
to  appease  the  demands  of  Church  and  State,  but  something  more 
lucrative  or  productive  than  the  mines  was  needed  to  satisfy  the  greed 
■of  a  continual  succession  of  necessitous  proconsuls.  Precisely  the 
same  sort  of  government  was  established  a  dozen  centuries  later  in 
Spanish  America,  and  we  can  trace,  with  the  greatest  assurance,  the 
course  of  one  by  that  of  the  other.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  every 
sack  of  wool  exported  from  Britain,  every  pipe  of  wine  brought"  into 
it,  every  incident  of  commercial  activity,  was  laden  with  a  tax,  imposed 
not  so  much  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  imperial  government,  as 
the  necessities  or  requirements  of  the  proconsul.  The  fact  that  the 
office  was  regarded  as  a  prize,  to  be  contended  for  by  politicians  and 
court  favourites,isin  itself  sufficient  evidence  of  its  profitable  character. 

In  78-80  Agricola  constructed  his  two  great  lines  of  fortification, 
constituting  the  Great  Wall  and  ditch  from  the  Tyne  to  the  Sol  way. 
He  also  established  many  new  ore-reduction  works  and  mining  towns 


38  ANCII.NT    imiTAlN, 

in  Britain.  In  the  following  year  he  attacked  and  subdued  the  Norse- 
men of  Caledonia  and  strengthened  that  country  with  fortifications 
and  intrenched  camps, many  of  which  afterwardsdeveloped  into  towns. 
In  these  operations  he  appears  to  have  made  such  liberal  use  of  the 
Gaelic  Britons,  both  in  erecting  forts  and  in  fighting  the  Norsemen, 
that  the  former,  as  a  distinct  race,  disappeared  from  Roman  history. 
"  From  this  time  forward,  when  the  Roman  writers  speak  of  the  Britons 
who  existed  in  the  Island,  as  a  people,  they  included  under  that  name 
only  the  Caledonian  tribes  of  the  North. "^  This  is  a  circumstance 
which  modern  historians  have  passed  over  far  too  lightly.  The  Gcelic 
tribes,  the  Druids,  the  worshippers  of  gods  and  the  followers  of  rites 
foreign  to  the  Romans,  were  put  to  the  roughest  work,  worn  out,  de- 
stroyed, and  their  race  exterminated.  The  men  of  the  Norse  tribes, 
not  afield,  were  absorbed  into  the  Roman  legions  and  sent  to  distant 
provinces,  in  exchange  for  soldiers  from  other  provinces  who  were  sta- 
tioned in  Britain.  The  Norsewomen  within  the  lines  were  absorbed 
into  Roman  barracks  and  camps,  to  become  the  mothers  of  a  new  and 
mixed  race,  with  Romance  names,  aptitudes,  thoughts,  passions,  vir- 
tues, vices,  merits,  and  defects. 

In  84,  the  last  year  of  Agricola's  government,  his  fleet  sailed  around 
the  extremities  of  Scotland,  and  according  to  Tacitus,  proved  Britain 
to  be  an  island.  But  in  this  respect  the  partiality  of  the  historian  has 
certainly  misled  him:  because  more  than  a  century  previously  it  had 
been  described  as  an  island  by  Caesar/  Tacitus  himself,  in  another 
place,  makes  the  natives  allude  to  it  as  an  island.  Twenty  years  before 
Agricola's  exploit  the  Usipian  troops  who,  previous  to  Agricola's  voy- 
age, had  deserted  from  the  Roman  legions  in  Britain,  and  escaped  to 
the  Continent,  appear  to  have  sailed  around  the  northern  extremity 
of  Scotland,  and  thus  proved  Britain  to  be  an  island.' 

Writing  about  the  year  95,  Tacitus  alludes  to  London,  as  "  famous 
for  its  many  merchants  and  stores  of  merchandise, "  from  which  it  may 
be  inferred  either  that  London  at  this  period  was  an  emporium  con- 
nected with  the  Baltic  trade,  or  else  that  the  population  of  Britain  had 
been  recently  and  largely  recruited  from  the  other  Roman  provinces; 
for  the  mere  demands  of  the  military  establishment  were  hardly  suf- 
ficient to  create  or  sustain  so  great  a  mart.  These  recruits  probably 
consisted  in  part  of  agriculturists  from  Scandinavia  or  the  Low  Coun- 
tries and  artificers  from  Gaul.  Judging  from  the  description  which. 
Tacitus  gives  of  the  anarchical  condition  of  Rome  during  the  sover- 
eignty of  Tiberius,  many  Italians  of  eminence  and  wealth,  may  have 

*  Wright,  130.  *  De  Bell.  Gall.,  v,  12.  'Tacitus,  Agricola,  xxviii,  32. 


FROM    A(;RIC0I.A    to    the    sack    ok    LONDt)N.  39 

also  been  glad  to  escape  from  beneath  the  jealous  and  suspicious  eyes 
of  the  imperial  pontiff,  and  remove  to  a  province  distant  enough  to 
offer  them  a  peaceful  retreat  and  the  security  of  social  oblivion. 

The  year  96  is  assigned  to  that  satire  of  Juvenal  in  which  he  alludes 
to  Ireland  and  the  Orkneys  as  recent  acquisitions  of  the  Roman  arms : 
"Arma  quidem  ultra  littora  Juvernae  promovimus,  et  modo  captas, 
Orcadas,  ac  minima  contentos  nocte  Britannos. "  '  'Although  our  arms 
advance  beyond  Juverna's  (Hibernia's)  shores,  though  the  Orcades 
(Orkneys)  are  just  subdued."  * 

The  proconsular  successors  of  Agricola  were  nearly  all  of  them  of 
the  stamp  previously  indicated.  Sullustius  Lucullus,  by  his  exactions 
and  tyranny, provoked  a  rising  of  the  natives  underArviragus.  Neratius 
Marcellus  provoked  other  risings,  until  at  length  the  emperor  Hadrian 
was  induced  to  visit  the  province  in  person,  A.  D.  120,  partly  with  a 
view  to  reform  the  abuses  which  had  given  rise  to  such  dangerous 
insurrections.  Among  the  other  transactions  of  this  monarch  was 
the  issue  of  a  mandate  to  construct  an  Inner  Wall,  namely,  that  one 
whose  remains  are  still  to  be  seen  stretching  from  the  Solway  to  the 
Tyne,  or  from  near  Carlisle  to  Newcastle. 

In  the  same  year  Ptolemy  published  his  Geography,  which  contains 
alist  of  Roman  towns  in  Britain  and  a  description  of  the  native  tribes. 
Many  antiquarians  have  accepted  both  these  data,  as  though  they  nec- 
essarily related  to  the  same  period,  whereas,  it  is  evident  that,  whilst 
a  list  of  towns  might  be  made  in  a  few  hours  and  compiled  from  very 
recent  information,  a  description  of  uncivilized  tribes  was  very  likely 
to  have  been  compiled  from  data  several  generations  old.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  when  Ptolemy's  work  was  published  there  were  no  longer  any 
Cantii,  known  as  such,  in  Kent,  nor  Regni  in  Surrey,  nor  Belg.ie  in 
Wessex,  nor  Trinobantes  in  Essex  or  Norfolk.  All  the  natives  within 
the  Roman  lines  had  become  Romano-Britons;  their  tribal  existence 
was  effaced.  A  considerable  proportion  of  the  men  hadbeen  transported 
to  distant  provinces;  their  language  was  no  longer  spoken  in  Britain; 
scarcely  a  trace  of  it  remained.  The  Welsh  of  the  present  time  are 
not  the  ancient  Britons  of  Britain,  nor  is  their  language  British.^  Such 
of  the  natives  as  were  not  wearing  out  a  hopeless  existence  in  the 
mines  and  quarries  of  Britain,  or  in  stopping  hostile  arrows  in  Cale- 
donia, had  been  conscripted  for  the  military  service  of  Rome  in  distant 
lands.  The  Notitia  mentions  detachments  of  Britons  in  Egypt,  Ar- 
menia, Spain,  Illyricum,  Pannonia,  Gaul,  Italy,  and  other  countries; 
and  in  view  of  Rome's  habitual  policy  in  this  respect,  it  cannot  be 

^  Satire  II,  159.  *  Wright,  219,  401. 


40 


ANCIKNI'     liKITAIN. 


doubted  lliat  the  deportation  of  all  Britons  of  the  military  ajj^es  and 
their  replacement  by  aliens  was  bei^iin  from  the  moment  that  Agricola 
completed  the  concjuest  of  the  province. 

At  the  outset,  the  Norse-Britons  willingly  supplied  the  Romans  with 
new  levies;  they  even  paid  their  tributes  with  alacrity'";  but  when 
they  perceived  that  these  tributes  were  devoted  to  the  support  of  a 
detested  idolatry,  and  when  the  conscription  threatened  to  withdraw 
all  their  youth  to  distant  realms  and  the  tributes  were  supplemented 
by  proconsular  exactions  and  oppressions,  these  natives  fled  from  the 
Romans  to  the  rude  but  friendly  fastnesses  of  Caledonia,  and,  sum- 
moning to  their  aid  their  relatives  in  the  Norse  lands,  boldly  made 
war  upon  the  oppressors.  Over  and  over  again,  were  the  allies  de- 
feated by  the  legions,  but,  nothing  daunted,  the  Norse  British  and 
Caledonians,  imbued  with  a  high  resolve,  and  fired  with  the  prospect 
of  plunder,  continued  to  attack,  until,  as  we  shall  see,  they  eventually 
prevailed."  The  medieval  monks,  not  suspecting  the  true  causes  of 
these  uprisings,  have  invented  what  is  called  the  Anglo-Saxon  con- 
quest to  supplement  the  withdrawal  of  the  imperial  forces  from  the 
Island.  When  this  portion  of  the  history  of  England  comes  to  be 
further  dealt  with,  we  shall  see  which  account  is  the  more  reliable. 

In  140  Lollius  Urbicus  reconstructed  the  Outer  Wall.  This  work 
connected  together  the  line  of  forts  previously  constructed  byAgricola, 
and  stretched  from  the  firth  of  Forth  to  that  of  Clyde.  It  sufficed  to 
keep  in  check  the  fierce  tribes  who  dwelt  to  the  northward,  and  w^ho, 
although  their  land  had  been  over-run  and  fortified  by  Agricola,  had 
never  wholly  lost  its  possession,  and  only  awaited  a  suitable  oppor- 
tunity to  drive  the  Romans  back  and  resume  its  entire  dominion. 
Such  an  opportunity  occurred  in  161,  upon  the  accession  of  the  em- 
peror Marcus  Aurelius,'"  but  the  insurgents  were  checked  by  the  new 
proconsul,  Aufidius  Victorinus,  and  we  hear  of  no  further  attempts 
of  this  kind,  until  some  twenty  years  later. 

'"  Tacitus,  Agricola,  xiil. 

"  A  pious  invention  of  modern  date  has  ascribed  the  first  payment  of  Rome-scat  to 
Ina,  king  of  Wessex,  but  the  term  betrays  the  fiction.  Wherever  Christianity  was  estab- 
lished, scats  ceased  to  be  issued  and  pence  tool:  their  place.  Rome-scat  was  the  tax 
paid  to  the  pagan  church  of  Rome.  When  the  christianized  church  controlled  the 
revenues,  that  is  to  say,  in  Britain  after  the  death  of  Maurice,  there  was  no  more  Rome- 
scat;  its  new  name  was  Peter's  pence,  and  it  was  Peter's  pence,  and  not  Rome-scat, 
that  Ina  paid.  The  old  name  might  have  hung  on  for  a  while  longer,  especially  in 
remote  places,  but  it  substantially  perished  with  the  issue  of  the  scat  itself. 

'^  Marcus  Aurelius  promoted  a  "revival"  of  the  Julian  religion  by  requiring  himself 
to  be  worshipped  as  god.  This  may  have  had  no  little  to  do  with  the  insurrection  of 
the  Goths. 


FROM    AGRICOLA    TO    THE    SACK    OF    LONDON'.  41 

Tliis  period  has  been  taken  to  mark  the  zenith  of  Roman  imperial 
power  generally  throughout  the  empire.  A  similar  point  was  probably 
not  reached  in  Britain  by  itself  until  the  mutiny  of  187.  After  the 
death  of  Marcus  Aurelius  in  180,  the  exactions  and  oppressions  of 
the  proconsuls,  which  his  vigorous  reign  had  partly  arrested,  were 
renewed,  and  extended  toward  the  colonists,  as  well  as  the  natives. 
In  consequence  of  this  policy,  the  citizens  and  traders  who,  within 
thirty  years  after  London  was  destroyed  by  Boadicea,  had  assisted 
to  make  it  "  famous  for  its  many  merchants  and  stores  of  merchan- 
dise," now  began  to  desert  it  and  remove  to  Gaul,  which  being  a  much 
more  extensive  province  and  not  so  far  removed  from  imperial  super- 
vision, afforded  less  scope  for  proconsular  avidity  and  oppression. 

This  movement  was  greatly  hastened  by  the  Mutiny  and  the  feeling 
of  insecurity  which  a  consideration  of  its  causes  evoked.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  legions  were  irregularly  and  insufficiently  paid.  As 
they  were  composed  almost  entirely  of  aliens  having  no  especial  affec- 
tion for  Rome,  many  of  the  soldiers  deserted  to  the  enemy,  among 
whom  the  chance  of  plundering  the  Roman  settlements  seemed  more 
promisingthan  that  of  receiving  theirarrears  of  pay."  These  deserters 
taught  their  allies  how  to  make  and  use  Roman  weapons  and  the  Ro- 
man art  of  fighting  in  column,  and  it  was  probably  owing  to  their 
disclosures  concerning  the  defences  of  the  Roman  settlements,  that 
larger  reinforcements  of  the  Goths  were  attracted  from  Norway,  with 
the  view  to  make  a  combined  attack  upon  the  province.  The  new- 
comers were  called  by  the  Latinized  name  of  Mteatae.  They  seem  to 
have  been  well  accustomed  to  the  water,  for  Dion  Cassius  gives  them 
credit  for  being  able  to  live  in  the  marshes  for  several  days  at  a  time, 
and  with  little  more  than  their  heads  above  the  surface.  Mr.  Wright 
is  of  opinion  that  the  Mseatae  were  Norsemen,  and  this  appears  to  have 
been  that  of  Bishop  Stillingfleet  and  others,  among  them,  Dr.  Russell, 
who,  as  before  stated,  extended  it  to  the  Picts. '*  Some  of  these  au- 
thorities based  their  conclusions  upon  archaeological  data;  the  others 
upon  philological  and  ethnical  grounds.  Whoever  the  Maeat^e  were, 
they  evidently  meant  mischief:  for  they  had  the  temerity  to  assemble 
under  the  Outer  Wall,  where  they  rattled  their  ringed  spears  in  the 
faces  of  the  legionary  troops  and  dared  them  to  leave  their  ramparts 
and  fight  them  in  the  open. 

The  intelligence  that  a  numerous  force  of  well-armed  and  deter- 

'^  On  the  alien  and  mercenary  character  of  the  Roman  forces  in  Britain,  see  the 
speech  of  Galcagus  to  the  Caledonians,  in  Tacitus,  Agricola,  xxxn. 
'*  Hist.  Europe,  i,  43. 


42  ANCIENT    liRITAlN. 

mined  insurgents  had  encamped  close  to  the  Wall  gave  great  alarnT 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Roman  towns  and  hastened  that  removal  to 
Gaul  of  the  commercial  and  artisan  classes  which  had  already  begun. 
This  exodus  of  industrious  people  compelled  the  lords  who  lived 
upon  country  estates  to  make  preparations  for  their  owni  security,  by 
strengthening,  fortifying,  and  provisioning  their  habitations,  until 
they  came  to  possess  many  of  those  self-contained  attributes  which 
distinguished  the  castles  of  that  later  period  with  which  history  has 
rendered  us  more  familiar. 

In  183,  upon  the  accession  of  Commodus  to  the  pontifical  and  im- 
perial crown,  the  Norse-Britons  scaled  the  Outer  Wall,  cut  the  frontier 
guards  to  pieces,  and  ravaged  the  entire  country  between  that  and  the 
Inner  Wall.  Northumbria  was  lost  to  the  empire  in  a  single  night. 
This  was  the  heaviest  blow  which  the  Roman  power  had  ever  received 
in  Britain,  and  it  led  to  other  catastrophies.  It  showed  the  northern 
tribes  that  the  empire  was  not  invulnerable,  and  that  its  mercenary 
troops,  though  Romanized,  were  still  aliens,  with  no  greater  love  for 
their  employment  than  what  was  excited  by  the  hopes  of  pay.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  plunder  carried  off  by  the  Norsemen  taught  the 
troops  that  treason  and  desertion  were  much  more  profitable  than 
fidelity  to  Rome. 

After  the  reverse  at  the  Outer  Wall,  a  new  viceroy,  Ulpius,  was  ap- 
pointed, the  Roman  forces  were  shifted,  veterans  were  sent  to  the 
front  and  the  Norsemen  were  driven  back  beyond  the  Wall.  But  no 
sooner  was  this  object  accomplished  than  Ulpius  was  displaced  by  a 
new  imperial  favorite,  named  Perennius,  who,  upon  his  arrival  in  Brit- 
ain, changed  many  of  the  commanders  and  attempted  to  enforce  meas- 
ures so  distasteful  to  the  troops  as  to  occasion  a  Mutiny.  Among  these 
measures  none  was  more  likely  to  drive  the  legions  to  such  an  extremity 
than  their  payment  in  silver-plated  iron  coins,  A  large  number  of 
such  coins,  stamped  with  effigies  of  Claudius  and  other  previous  em- 
perors, and  packed  in  tiers,  as  though  they  had  been  imported  into 
Britain  from  abroad,  were  found  in  London  during  the  early  part  of 
the  present  century,  when  King  William  Street  was  being  laid  out. 
Mr.  Wright  is  of  the  opinion  that  they  were  employed  for  the  payment 
of  the  troops,  and  no  period  seems  more  appropriate  to  assign  to  this 
use,  than  the  period  previous  to  the  Mutiny  of  the  year  187. 

Although  the  emperor  hastened  to  repair  the  error  he  had  made  in 
appointing  Perennius  to  the  proconsulship,  by  sacrificing  that  unfor- 
tunate officer  to  the  fury  of  his  accusers,  and  by  appointing  Pertinax 
in  his  place,  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  troops  continued;  a  proof  that 


FROM  AGRICOLA  TO  THE  SACK  OF  LONDON.  45 

the  cause  lay  deeper  than  a  change  of  commanders.  Upon  the  arrival 
of  Pertinax  in  Britain  the  mutinous  troops  proposed  to  throw  off  the 
authority  of  Rome  altogether  and  raise  the  proconsul  to  an  independent 
throne;  and  when  he  prudently  refused  this  dangerous  pre-eminence, 
they  struck  him  down  and  left  him  for  dead.  Pertinax,  however,  suc- 
ceeded in  restoring  order,  and  soon  afterwards  returned  to  Rome, 
leaving  Albinus  in  command  of  the  province. 

The  murder  of  the  emperor  Commodus,  the  elevation  of  the  same 
Pertinax  to  the  imperial  throne  by  the  praetorian  guards,  the  assassina- 
tion of  Pertinax  three  months  later,  the  virtual  sale  of  the  imperial 
throne  to  the  usurer  Didius  Julianus,  the  rise  of  Septimius  Severus  in 
Pannonia,  of  Pescennius  Niger  in  Syria,  and  of  Albinus  in  Britain,  all 
of  whom  claimed  and  assumed  the  blood-stained  purple,  the  murder 
of  Didius  Julianus,  the  placation  of  Albinus,  the  defeat  of  Pescennius, 
the  devastation  of  Byzantium, because  it  had  sheltered  and  chanpioned 
him,  the  seizure  of  the  imperial  throne  by  Septimius,  and  the  defeat 
and  death  of  Albinus,  all  occurred  within  the  five  years,  193-7. 

After  having  secured  himself  in  his  perilous  position,  Septimius,  in 
196,  appointed  one  of  his  most  faithful  adherents,  Virius  Lupus,  to 
the  government  of  Britain,  and  this  officer  at  once  hastened  to  the 
scene  of  his  new  command  and  set  about  making  such  reforms  in  the 
administration  as  the  state  of  affairs  appeared  to  require.  Among  these 
was  the  division  of  the  country  into  seven  provinces,  which,  at  a  later 
period,  and  with  some  modification  of  boundaries,  became  the  seven 
so-called  Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms,  or  Heptarchy.  '*  There  couid  hardly 
have  been  any  other  reason  for  such  subdivision  than  that  proctor- 
ship of  authority  which  was  to  be  observed  going  on  in  all  parts  of 
the  empire,  and  which  was  the  necessary  consequence  of  its  hierarch- 
ical form  of  government.  The  emperor,  who  was  also  the  chief-pontiff 
of  Rome,  and  commonly  worshipped  as  a  god,  was  too  sacred  a  per- 
sonage to  directly  transact  the  affairs  of  state,  and  he  had  to  be  rep- 
resented by  a  vicar,  legate,  or  proconsul.  The  proconsul  being  placed 
in  authority  over  native  kings  and  princes,  soon  became  too  important 
an  officer  to  be  directly  approached,  and  he  too  exercised  his  office 
by  proxy;  and  so  it  continued  down  to  the  lowest  stratum  of  official 
rank.   Everything  was  done  by  somebody  else,  and  consequently  was 

'^From  a  comparison  of  certain  Anglo-Saxon  coins  of  very  rude  design,  'Mr.  Evans 
was  induced  to  assign  them  to  six  districts,  or  petty  kingdoms,  whose  geographical  posi- 
tion corresponded  more  or  less  with  the  subsequent  heptarchical  kingdoms.  Hawkins, 
"  English  Silver  Coins,"  p.  10.  They  are  more  likely  to  correspond  with  six  of  the 
seven  provincial  districts  into  which  Britain  was  divided  by  the  Romans,  and  which 
formed  the  basis  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms. 


44  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

<.lone  badly.  Tacitus  expressly  states  that  the  most  essential  matters 
were  commonly  neglected.  The  division  of  the  Island  into  seven  sub- 
provinces  had  some  apparent  advantages,  it  provided  for  seven  new 
officers,  each  of  whom  was  required  to  take  care  of  his  own  govern- 
ment, and  it  probably  led  to  the  organization  of  those  local  means  of 
defence,  including  a  body  of  yeomanry,  which  the  frequent  and  rapid 
attacks  of  the  barbarians  had  rendered  necessary  for  the  security  of 
the  province.  Notwithstanding  these  preparations, or  perhaps  because 
of  his  having  made  them,  the  proconsul  fancied  that  he  might  pru- 
dently spare  some  of  the  imperial  troops  for  service  on  the  Continent; 
whereupon  the  Norsemen,  in  205,  again  forced  the  Outer  Wall,  over- 
ran the  district  between  the  walls,  put  its  defenders  and  inhabitants 
■either  to  flight  or  the  sword,  and  intrenched  themselves  in  Roman 
■strongholds,  from  which,  during  the  two  years  following,  they  sallied 
at  intervals  to  extend  their  conquests  and  augment  their  plunder. 

Under  these  circumstances  Virius  determined  upon  a  line  of  policy, 
which,  while  it  temporarily  averted  further  aggressions,  was  event- 
ually followed  by  the  most  pernicious  consequences:  he  bought  off 
the  enemy  with  gold.  Assuming  the  Mjeatae  to  have  been  Norsemen, 
this  was  the  first  "  Danegeld  "  or  "Gotgeld"  paid  in  Britain.  The 
payment  of  such  a  tribute  naturally  inflamed  the  appetites  of  the  en- 
■emy  for  further  riches.  It  also  increased  their  strength  and  military 
resources,  by  tempting  their  kinsmen  to  come  over  in  increasing  num- 
bers from  Scandinavia,  Saxland  and  Frisia.  The  truce  was  again  and 
again  broken  and  renewed,  until  at  length  Virius,  despairing  of  deal- 
ing successfully  with  the  enemy,  sent  a  message  to  the  emperor,  ask- 
ing for  strong  reinforcements  of  troops,  and  representing  the  advan- 
tages which  might  result  from  the  attendance  of  the  imperial  presence 
itself  in  Britain. 

Septimius  Severus  acceded  to  this  suggestion  by  rapidly  assembling 
an  army  and  making  a  forced  march  through  Gaul.  He  arrived  at 
York,  then  the  principal  city  of  Britain,  in  the  winter  of  the  year  208. 
After  concluding  preparations  for  a  crushing  and  decisive  campaign, 
he  was  enabled  in  the  spring  of  209  to  take  the  field  with  a  well  dis- 
ciplined force.  The  result  of  this  campaign  was  a  complete  triumph 
for  the  Roman  legions, who  penetrated  to  the  northernmost  extremity 
of  the  Island,  dispersing  the  enemy  as  they  advanced,  and  forcing 
them  either  into  the  mountainous  wilds,  or  into  their  boats  and  away 
altogether.  But  it  was  a  triumph  that,  although  it  is  said  to  have  cost 
theaged  emperor  the  almost  incredible  number  of  50,000  troops,  only 
lasted  for  a  short  time.     Pending  the  renewal  of  further  hostilities, 


FROM    AGRICOLA    TO    THE    SACK    OF    LONDON.  45 

Septimius  employed  his  forces  in  strengthening  the  Inner  Wall,  to 
which  was  now  added  a  stone  rampart  from  end  to  end;  and  it  may- 
have  been  in  the  arduous  labour  of  this  stupendous  undertaking  that 
many  of  the  troops  succumbed,  whose  loss  the  Latin  historians  at- 
tribute to  the  Caledonian  campaign. 

In  the  summer  of  210  the  mysterious  Maeatae  again  united  with  the 
Caledonians  to  harass  the  Roman  frontiers.  This  time  the  emperor 
was  unable  to  punish  them.  He  died  at  York  in  February  211,  leav- 
ing the  empire  to  his  two  worthless  and  profligate  sons,  Caracallaand 
Geta.  After  cremating  their  father's  body,  these  sons  carried  its  ashes 
to  Rome,  where,  shortly  afterwards,  the  assassination  of  one  son  by 
the  other,  restored  the  apparent  unity,  yet  only  served  to  hasten  the 
downfall,  of  the  empire.  The  disorders  of  this  period  were  the  symp- 
toms, not  the  causes,  of  imperial  decay,  and  need  but  the  briefest 
mention  in  this  place.  They  were  of  similar  character  in  all  parts  of 
the  empire.  Vicarious  authority,  the  usurpation  of  the  imperial  pur- 
ple by  ambitious  proconsuls,  the  desertion  of  the  soldiers,  their  al- 
liance with  the  barbarians,  and  the  appearance  of  these  allies  wherever 
plunder  or  ransom  was  to  be  gained.  A  Syrian  (Elagabalus)  a  Norse- 
man (Maximin)  and  an  Arabian  (Philip)  successively  wore  a  crown 
which  had  now  become  but  too  often  the  plaything  of  an  insolent 
soldiery  and  the  reward  of  treachery  and  assassination.  The  eastern 
Goths,  largely  enforced  by  deserters  from  the  Roman  army,  had  de- 
vastated Dacia  and  Moesia,  defeated  the  hitherto  invincible  legions- 
and  extorted  from  the  emperor  of  Rome  the  price  of  future  forbear- 
ance."" The  simultaneous  assertion  of  thirty  proconsular  claims  to  a 
tottering  and  ensanguined  throne,  only  served  to  mark  the  splendour 
of  the  prize  and  the  dissolution  of  the  social  forces  by  which  it  had 
previously  been  upheld. 

Emboldened  by  the  disorders  at  Rome,  the  tribes  of  Norse-Britons 
and  their  allies  made  unusual  preparations  to  regain  possession  of 
their  native  Island.  A  band  of  hardy  Scots  crossed  the  Irish  channel 
and  joined  the  Caledonians.  Other  bands  under  Norse  vikings  made 
predatory  descents  upon  the  south  and  south-east  coasts.  The  roving 
tribes  who  surrounded  the  half  deserted  province  all  hastened  to  en- 
joy their  share  of  the  revenge  and  spoil,  which  its  reoccupation  prom- 
ised. Only  the  Romans  and  those  natives  who  had  become  domesti- 
cated as  Roman  servants,  trembled  at  its  impending  fall. 

'*  In  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Philip,  the  city  of  Marcianopolis  the  capital  of  Moesia, 
paid  ransom  to  a  mixed  army  of  Roman  deserters,  Goths,  and  Slavs.  Two  years  later 
the  Goths  defeated  the  emperor  Decius  and  sacked  Philipopolis. 


46  ANCIKNT    I'.RITAIN. 

A  pardonable  but  misleading  ])ride  has  too  commonly  concealed  the 
fact  that  at  this  period  the  provincial  government  of  Britain  had  ceased 
to  derive  its  authority  directly  from  Rome.  Its  proconsul  was  sub- 
ject to  the  prccfectus  prretorio  Galliarum  who  during  the  reign  of 
Diocletian  resided  at  Treves  and  at  a  later  period,  at  Aries."  The 
government  being  in  Gaul,  the  head-quarters  of  the  fleet  were  fixed 
at  Boulogne,  a  circumstance  that  afforded  no  little  encouragement  to 
the  designs  of  the  Norse  vikings.  On  the  north-eastern  coasts  these 
adventurers  received  aid  from  their  kinsmen  and  allies  without  the 
Walls;  on  the  southern  coasts  their  depredations  were  encouraged  by 
many  of  those  who  dwelt  within  them.  Between  the  years  276  and 
283  they  appear  to  have  captured  and  sacked  the  city  of  London,  and 
in  this  enterprize  they  were  probably  aided  by  that  reckless  band  of 
Norsemen,  who,  having  escaped  from  Roman  vassalage  in  Moesiaand 
Thrace,  sailed  through  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Straits  of  Hercules, 
(Gibraltar,)  and  returned  to  their  homes  in  Scandinavia  by  way  of 
the  British  channel. 

"Gibbon;  Wright;  and  Palgrave,  324,  359.  It  was  Diocletian,  a  pagan  emperor, 
who  divided  the  empire  into  vicarages. 


47 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    LAST    CENTURY    OF    PAGAN    IMPERIAL    RULE, 

The  Sack  of  London  by  the  Goths,  circ.  280,  was  probably  shared  by  the  Thracian 
Franks — Their  daring  cruise  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Thames — Usurpation  of 
"Carausius,  the  Goth — Distraction  of  the  Empire — Simultaneous  rebellions  in  various 
provinces — Britain  again  reduced  to  imperial  rule — Constantine  becomes  sole  emperor 
— The  imperial  capital  removed  to  Byzantium — Constantine  insults  the  god  Thor — 
Indignation  of  the  Goths — They  rebel  in  Moesia,  Saxony,  and  Britain — London  again 
sacked — Theodosius  defeats  the  rebels,  reestablishes  the  imperial  rule,  and  earns  the 
surname  of  Saxonicus — The  Angles  of  North  Britain — The  Welsh — The  conflict  of 
the  idolatrous  religions  of  these  races  eventually  paved  the  way  for  Christianity  in  Britain. 

OVID,  perhaps  because  unlike  the  pliant  Virgil,  he  disdained  to 
worship  Julius  as  the  Father,  or  refused  to  proclaim  with  Ma- 
nilius  the  gospel  of  Augustus,  the  Son,  was  banished  by  the  latter  to 
Lower  Moesia,  there  to  repent  in  vain  and  to  die  among  the  half  sav- 
age Getse.  After  Ovid's  death,  this  tribe,  whom  both  historians  and 
archaeologists  have  recognized  as  Goths,  were  frequently  reduced  in 
numbers  by  the  Roman  military  conscription,  but  appear  to  have  been 
reinforced  by  accessions  from  the  North.  Among  other  emperors  who 
promoted  or  permitted  such  reinforcement,  was  Probus.  The  re- 
cruits who  were  introduced  into  Moesia  and  Thrace  during  his  reign, 
were  known  as  Frakki.'  There  are  reasons  for  believing  these  people 
to  be  identical  with  the  northern  sea-coast,  or  Salian  Franks.^  Their 
removal  to  Thrace  was  intended,  in  the  words  of  Eumenius,  "to 
promote  the  peace  of  the  Roman  empire  by  their  planting  and  the 
strength  of  its  armies  by  their  recruits."  ' 

These  sea-wolves  had  no  sooner  taken  the  bearings  of  the  country 
and  learnt  where  the  principal  treasures  of  the  imperialists  were  de- 
posited, than  they  conceived  the  daring  design  to  plunder  them,  es-  ■ 
cape  entirely  from  the  Roman  dominions  and  return  to  their  homes, 

*  Frakki  is  the  Gothic  word  for  a  spear. 

*  In  discussing  the  genuineness  and  antiquity  of  the  Codex  Argenteus,  Michaelis 
fetches  the  Goths  of  Moesia  from  the  Crimea.  But  this  theory,  although  perhaps  well 
founded,  does  not  explain  why  some  of  these  Goths  found  it  necessary  to  circumnavigate 
the  whole  of  Europe  in  order  to  reach  their  homes.     Marsh's  Michaelis,  11,  i,  45. 

^  Eumenius,  Const.,  Aug.,  c.  6,  written  circ.  311. 


48  ANCIKNT    KKITAIN. 

by  way  of  the  Bosphorus,  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  This  was  an  enterprise  which  none  but  practical  sea-men 
would  have  been  likely  to  entertain,  and  none  but  bold  and  skilled 
ones,  would  have  attempted.  The  plot  having  duly  ripened,  the  band 
broke  loose  and  made  their  way  to  a  port  of  Thrace,  on  the  Black  Sea — 
probably  Apollonia — and  there,  seizing  upon  a  number  of  sea-galleys, 
they  made  sail  for  the  Bosphorus.  This  dangerous  strait  having  been 
successfully  passed,  they  steered  for  the  coast  of  Greece,  where  they 
landed  for  provisions  and  water.  After  raiding  the  neighbouring  vil- 
lages,whose  poor  defences  almost  invited  their  rapine,  they  resolved  to 
attempt  the  Romano-Greek  city  of  Syracuse, in  Sicily — Eumenius  says 
they  captured  the  place  and  Zosimus  adds,  with  great  slaughter.* 
From  Syracuse  they  sailed  away  and  raided  the  Carthagenian  coasts, 
taking  care  to  avoid  the  larger  towns  and  garrisons.  While  thus  oc- 
cupied they  were  interrupted  by  the  approach  of  the  Roman  coast- 
guard ships,  and  the  adventurers  once  more  took  wing  and  vanished, 
this  time  through  the  strait  of  Hercules,  whither  it  is  probable  that 
no  one  ventured  to  follow  them.  Of  what  further  enterprises  they  af- 
terwards achieved,  we  are  not  apprised,  except  that  according  to  Zosi- 
mus, "they  managed  to  get  back  to  their  own  country  unharmed." 

It  is  not  too  much  to  assume  that  the  men  who  had  the  temerity  to 
attempt  Syracuse  and  the  coasts  of  Carthage  were  quite  prepared  to 
attack  London.  It  was  a  Roman  town,  that  is  to  say,  it  belonged  to 
their  enemy,  it  was  rich  and  not  impregnable.  More  than  all,  in  place 
of  the  Trinobantes,  who  had  been  extirpated  in  the  defeat  of  Boadicea, 
the  adjacent  country  was  now  filled  with  colonies  of  Vandals,  which 
was  only  one  of  the  several  Roman  names  for  Goths.  These  people 
could  be  depended  upon  for  information  and  assistance.  The  Frakki 
were  desperate  men  who  possessed  a  number  of  efficient  galleys.  They 
were  going  home  almost  empty-handed,  and  after  their  exploits  in 
Thrace,  Greece,  and  Carthage,  were  probably  ready  to  dare  anything. 
Why  not  London?  Some  of  the  old  Norse  sagas  contain  an  account 
of  how  London  was  attacked,  without  giving  any  date  to  the  enter- 
prise; so,  whether  it  was  in  A.  D.  280,  or  a  later  attack,  cannot  be 
determined.  The  sagas  relate  that  the  Norse-ships  sailed  up  the 
Thames  until  they  got  near  London  Bridge,  then  consisting  of  stone 
foundations  and  a  wooden  superstructure  lined  with  Roman  dwelling- 
houses  and  shops.  The  Norsemen  thereupon  fastened  some  of  their 
vessels  to  the  bridge,  set  it  on  fire,  and  destroyed  it,  thus  cutting  off 
succour  and  supplies  from  the  citadel  and  rendering  the  latter  an  easy 

^Eumenius,  Const.,  Aug.,  c.  18;  Zosimus,  Probus,  i,  71. 


IIIK    LAST    CENTURY    OF    PAGAN    IMPERIAL     RULE.  49 

prey.  After  the  capture  and  sack  of  the  city,  the  Norsemen  appear 
to  have  abandoned  it,  probably  to  return  to  the  Scandinavian  and 
Saxon  coasts,  there  to  enjoy  in  security  the  fruits  of  their  daring  ad- 
ventures. It  is  quite  possible  that  other  cities  of  Britain  were  sacked 
as  well  as  London  and  that  these  raids  were  protracted  throughout 
several  following  years,  until  they  were  brought  to  an  end  by  the  op- 
erations of  Carausius  in  286.  "  England  is  richest  in  moveable  prop- 
erty of  all  the  northern  lands,"  significantly  remarks  the  Knytlinga 
Saga;  and  that  the  vikings  made  good  use  of  this  observation  is  abun- 
dantly testified  by  the  amplitude  and  variety  of  the  Romano-British 
plunder  which  has  been  found  in  their  graves  and  tumuli. 

The  news  of  the  audacious  raid  upon  London,  having  in  due  time 
reached  the  imperial  court,  the  Roman  proconsul  in  Gaul,  one  Ca- 
rausius, who,  being  a  Menapian,  was  therefore  supposed  to  know 
something  about  the  sort  of  people  he  had  to  fight  against  and  the 
sort  of  ships  best  fitted  to  cope  with  them,  was  ordered  to  immediately 
fit  out  the  imperial  fleet  and  prepare  to  punish  the  enemy.  This  arma- 
ment set  sail  in  287  and  succeeded  in  intercepting  the  Norse  fleet;  ^ 
but  Carausius,  instead  of  attacking,  came  to  an  amicable  understand- 
ing with  the  enemy,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  spoil  which  had 
been  taken  by  the  latter  was  divided  between  the  commanders  of  the 
two  fleets  and  the  Norsemen  entered  the  service  of  Carausius.  Land- 
ing soon  after  in  Britain,  the  Menapian  proclaimed  himself  emperor 
of  that  province  and  sending  an  embassy  to  Rome  he  boldly  demanded 
an  official  recognition  of  his  usurped  title  and  pretensions. 

The  ease  and  rapidity  which  attended  this  singular  revolution  in  the 
government  of  Britain  are  readily  explained  when  the  circumstances 
of  the  times  are  recalled  to  mind.  Not  only  was  the  empire  divided 
between  two  Augusti,  a  division  of  authority  far  more  ruinous  and 
embarassing  than  though  it  had  been  shared  by  an  hundred  emperors, 
it  was  divided  between  five  Ccxsars,  all  of  whom  were  obliged  to  keep 
the  field.  Egypt  having  revolted  under  Saturninus  and  again  under 
Achilleus,  Diocletian  was  called  to  the  sieges  of  Alexandria  and  Cop- 
tos.  Julian  had  assumed  the  purple  at  Carthage  and  the  Five  Nations. 
of  Mauritania  provoked  the  fierce  vengeance  of  Maximian  Hercules. 
Persia  had  made  war  upon  the  vassal  king  of  Armenia,  whom  every 
consideration  of  honour  and  policy  commended  to  the  hospitality  of 
Rome  and  the  protecting  arm  of  Galerius.  The  ever  restless  tribes 
of  Arabia  had  closed  the  portals  of  the  Lidian  trade  and  alarmed  the 
southeastern  provinces  of  the  empire  with  apprehensions  of  invasion. 

^  Eutropius,  IX,  21,  describing  this  incident,  calls  the  enemy  "  Franci  et  Saxones.'* 


5° 


ANCIKXT     li  KIT  A  IK 


The  Gauls,  uiulcr  the  name  of  Bagaudce,  or  insurgents,  rose  upon 
their  Roman  masters,  and  two  of  their  chieftains, /Elianus  and  Aman- 
dus,  asserted  their  sovereignty  by  assuming  the  purple  and  striking 
native  coins.  In  the  bloody  repression  which  followed  this  rising, 
Carausius  had  taken  part,  and  he  had  probably  remarked  the  extreme 
difficulty  with  which  Maximian  recruited  his  forces.  The  empire  was 
was  tumbling  in  upon  itself.  The  Roman  race  had  become  Gaulicised 
and  Gothicised,  many  of  the  Roman  commanders  were  Goths,  the 
religion  of  emperor-worship  had  fallen  into  contempt,  the  exactions 
of  the  Church,  of  the  proconsuls,  of  tlie  procurators,  of  the  military 
commanders,  were  maddening;  Probus  had  compelled  the  peasants 
to  construct  a  double  Wall  and  a  line  of  forts  in  Alsatia  two  hundred 
miles  in  length ;  an  ever  grinding  conscription  drove  the  provinces  to 
despair;  and  what  little  hope  of  the  future  had  been  left  untouched 
by  the  hand  of  exaction,  was  crushed  by  the  iron  tyranny  of  restraint. 

Carausius  himself  was  of  Gothic  or  semi-Gothic  blood,  *  he  doubt- 
less spoke  the  Gothic  tongue.  He  was  thus  more  readily  enabled  to 
influence  the  soldiers  who  had  been  entrusted  with  the  defence  of 
Britain  and  to  animate  the  Gothic  or  semi-Gothic  peasants,  who  at 
this  period  must  have  formed  the  main  portion  of  its  inhabitants. 
Such  were  the  elements  that  lay  within  grasp  of  the  usurper  and  which 
afforded  that  promise  of  success  to  his  perilous  undertaking  which  it 
never  could  have  derived  from  a  mere  treasonable  coalition  with  the 
Korse  fleet.  In  other  words,  Britain  was  already  filled  with  a  semi- 
Gothic  population  quite  ready  to  accept  a  Gothic  ruler  and  to  throw 
off  its  allegiance  to  the  hierarchy  of  Rome  and  its  detested  worship 
of  emperors. 

In  293  Carausius  was  slain  at  York  by  his  prime  minister,  Allectus, 
■who  thereupon  usurped  and  ascended  the  vacant  throne  of  Britain. 
When  the  freedom-loving  character  of  the  Norsemen  is  called  to  mind, 
it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  this  revolution  could  have  been  accom- 
plished without  a  large  following;  and  we  are  warranted  in  conjectur- 
ing that  there  was  something  more  than  a  mere  personal  choice  be- 
tween Carausius  and  Allectus  which  induced  the  islanders  to  renounce 
one  chieftain  and  adopt  the  other.  Might  this  reason  also  have  been 
the  same  one  that,  contrariwise,  reconciled  the  Roman  government 
to  Carausius,  whilst  it  declared  war  upon  Allectus;  and  was  this  the 

*  On  the  river  Mosel  the  Romans  had  erected  a  fortress  called  Castellum  Menapiorum, 
around  which  grew  up  a  town.  In  this  town  and  also  between  the  town  and  the  river 
Scheldt,  there  dwelt  a  tribe  of  Salian  Franks  called  Menapians,  among  whom,  according 
to  Eutropius,  was  born  Carausius. 


THE    LAST    CKNTURV    OK    PAGAN     IMl'KRIAL    RULK.  51 

acceptance  by  the  former  and  rejection  by  the  latter  of  the  Roman 
hierarchical  government,  and  with  it  the  Roman  religion?  The  muti- 
lated literature  of  this  period  only  informs  us  that  ^sclepiodotus  was 
ordered  by  the  emperor  to  invade  Britain  and  destroy  Allectus  and 
his  government;  a  task  which  he  successfully  accomplished  in  the 
fourth  year  of  the  latter's  reign.  On  this  occasion  London  was  again 
sacked.  When  y^'sclepiodotus  had  routed  the  army  of  Allectus,  the 
fugitives,  consisting  mainly  of  the  Prankish  and  Saxon  Goths,  with 
whom  both  Carausius  and  Allectus  had  recruited  their  legions,  re- 
treated to  London  and  began  to  plunder  it.  The  imperial  forces, 
however,  surprised  them  at  their  work,  and  put  them  to  flight. 

Li  306  the  Caesar,  Constantius  Chlorus,  died  at  York,  and  his  son, 
■Constantine,  who  was  about  thirty  years  of  age,  was  proclaimed  Caesar 
by  the  imperial  troops  then  quartered  in  Britain.  He  was  politic 
enough  to  communicate  his  elevation  to  Galerius;  to  soften  his  own 
treasonable  part  in  it,  by  alleging,  like  Saturninus  before  him,  that 
he  was  unable  to  prevent  or  undo  it;  and  to  entreat  the  forgiveness 
and  condonation  of  the  emperor.  Pending  the  arrival  of  a  reply,  he 
prudently  rebuilt  the  citadel  of  London  and  surrounded  it  with  a 
strong  wall  of  stone,  within  which,  at  a  place  now  occupied  by  St. 
Swithin's  church,  Cannon  Street,  began  the  great  Roman  roads  which 
the  Goths  afterwards  called  Watling  and  Irmin  streets.  This  spot  is 
still  marked  by  "London  Stone,"  probably  the  remains  of  a  Roman 
milliarium.  Galerius  having  reluctantly  confirmed  the  elevation  of 
Constantine  and  assigned  to  him  the  dominion  of  Gaul  and  Britain, 
the  latter  removed  his  court  to  Treves,  where  he  fitted  out  several 
■expeditions  against  the  Frankish  Goths,  whose  resistance  to  imperial 
rule  had  made  the  valley  of  the  lower  Rhine  a  theatre  of  constant  war- 
fare. After  many  acts  of  turpitude,  all  committed  from  motives  of 
ambition,  Constantine,  in  312,  entered  Rome  as  a  conqueror,  and  a 
trembling  senate  hastened  to  confirm  him  as  one  of  the  three  Augusti, 
between  whom  the  disjointed  empire  was  now  divided.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  years  he  succeeded  in  destroying  every  obstacle  to  his  am- 
bition, including  i\Iaximin,his  benefactor,  Licinius,his  brother-in-law, 
Fausta,  his  wife,  and  Crispus,  his  son.    In  324  he  became  sole  master. 

But  of  what  ?  Of  an  empire  distracted  by  hierarchical  government 
and  three  irreconcileable  religions,  the  polytheistic,  the  Julian  or 
Augustan,  and  the  "Christian  "  ;  of  a  people  more  barbarian  than  civ- 
ilized, and  more  Gothic  and  Roman;  of  an  army  of  mercenaries;  and 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  provinces  drenched  in  blood  and  ruined 
by  vicarious  government.    It  was  evidently  in  the  belief  that  all  this 


52  ANCIKNT     liRlTAlN. 

wrong  could  be  riglited,  aiul  all  this  history  undone  b)'  his  own  hand, 
that  Constantine  promptly  took  sides  with  a  religious  party,  of  whose 
tenets  he  was  unmistakedly  ignorant,  but  which,  nevertheless,  com- 
prised some  of  the  most  wealthy  and  influential  families  of  Rome  and 
Alexandria,  Following  out  the  same  idea,  he  resolved  to  be  rid  of 
the  Julianists  by  removing  the  court  to  Byzantium,  whither  he  also 
caused  to  be  conveyed  the  most  precious  treasures  and  works  of  art 
that  remained  in  the  empire.'  The  dedication  of  this  ancient  city 
by  the  new  name  of  Constantinople  took  place  in  330,  and  among  the 
earliest  decrees  that  bore  its  stamp  was  that  new  political  charter  by 
which  the  conqueror  hoped  to  save  the  falling  state. 

But  no  charter  could  save  it  now.  The  Goths,  who  surrounded,  who 
invaded,  who  filled,  the  empire,  were  not  in  a  mood  to  listen  either  to 
the  gospel  of  peace  or  the  provisions  for  local  feudal  government  which 
were  contained  in  the  New  Constitution.  Their  blood  was  up.  They 
had  endured  all  that  a  race  of  men  can  endure  in  peace.  Constantine 
at  Treves  had  thrown  their  captured  leaders  into  the  arena,  there  to 
be  devoured  by  wild  beasts.  He  had  impressed  all  their  youth  into 
his  legions,  and  marched  them  off  to  distant  parts  of  the  world,  never 
to  return.  The  emperor  was  no  longer  a  god,  for,  if  the  monkish  ac- 
count be  true,  he  had  embraced  a  religion  which  acknowledged  a  god 
superior  to  all  earthly  dieties.  Rome  was  no  longer  the  seat  of  empire, 
and  the  allegiance  due  to  the  empire  on  account  of  the  sacred  Quirinus 
was  dissolved.  The  impious  emperor,  for  such  they  deemed  him,  had 
refused  to  sacrifice  even  to  Thor;  and  the  temples  of  Byzantium, 
sacred  to  that  deity  of  deities,  had  been  converted  into  churches  ded- 
icated to  a  new  and  unfamiliar  worship. 

From  Upsala  to  Cologne  and  from  York  to  Moesia  the  Gothic  men 
arose.  While  the  emperor  was  called  to  the  defence  of  the  Danube, 
his  eldest  son,  afterwards  Constantine  II.,  fortified  the  Rhine.  But 
there  were  other  dangers  as  well  as  exposed  frontiers.  Bands  of  Gothic 
soldiers  who  had  deserted  from  the  legions  were  to  be  seen  in  all  the 
provinces  of  the  empire  preparing  to  join  their  kinsmen.  Even  the 
troops  who  surrounded  the  emperor,  failed  him,  and  compelled  him 
to  retreat  before  the  champions  of  Thor  and  Woden.  In  Britain  the 
tribes  of  the  north  continually  gained  ground.  When  Constantine  was 
crowned  at  York,  the  frontier  was  at  Edinburgh.  Sixty  years  later  it 
was  at  London,  which  the  sons  of  Woden  again  captured  and  again 
sacked.      It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Theodosius,  the  imperial  pro- 

'  Some  Egyptologists  would  have  us  believe  that,  ages  before,  Thotmes  III.  had  for 
a  like  reason  removed  his  court  to  Tel-el-Amarna. 


THE    LAST    CENTURY    OF    PAGAN    IMPERIAL    RULE.  53 

consul,  massing  his  forces  at  Richborougli,  marched  upon  London, 
put  the  victors  to  flight,  recaptured  the  spoil,  and  took  many  prisoners, 
an  exploit  for  which  he  earnt  an  ovation  and  the  surname  of  Saxonicus. 
This  surname  alone  sufficiently  indicates  the  race  to  which  the  routed 
€nemy  belonged,  and  makes  it  impossible  to  believe  the  story  of  a 
subsequent  Anglo-Saxon  invasion.  Saxonicus  could  only  have  been 
the  name  of  one  who  had  conquered  the  Saxons. 

Ever  since  the  death  of  Antoninus  Pius,  and  more  especially  since  the 
subdivision  of  the  empire,  desertions  from  the  imperial  army  had  con- 
tinued. Although  the  ranks  were  successively  filled  by  new  conscrip- 
tions, yet  the  morale  of  the  troops  was  deeply  affected  and  the  integrity  of 
the  empire  repeatedly  exposed  to  danger.  The  deserters  either  adopted 
a  marauding  life,  or  else  joined  the  enemy,  taught  them  how  to  make 
and  use  Roman  arms,  inured  them  to  discipline,  and  pointed  out  the 
rich  places  to  despoil,  or  the  weak  ones  to  assault.  During  the  brief 
reign  of  Constantine  in  Britain,  the  defections  of  troops  were  numerous 
enough  to  receive  notice  even  in  the  meagre  chronicles  of  those  times. 
The  deserters  joined  the  barbarians  in  Caledonia,  or  Gaul,  or  upon 
the  sea,  and  shared  in  their  forays  upon  the  Roman  frontiers  and 
settlements,  which,  little  by  little,  were  thus  driven  towards  the  south- 
eastern and  the  interior  portions  of  the  island.  During  the  interval 
between  the  accession  of  Constantine  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  Ro- 
man legions  from  Britain — the  obscurest  period  in  British  history — 
a  tribe  of  Goths,  known  as  Angles,  obtained  a  footing  in  the  North, 
while  a  tribe  of  Bretons,  or  Amorican  Gauls^  from  the  valleys  of  the 
Seine  and  Loire,  whom  the  Saxons  called  "Welshe,"  or  strangers, 
■occupied  the  western  and  northwestern  parts  of  Britain.  These  races, 
and  their  kinsmen,  who  were  yet  to  come,  brought  with  them  distinct 
religions;  the  Goths,  the  polytheism  of  the  Mongolian  steppes,  and 
the  Welshmen,  the  druid  rites  of  Gaul.  The  conflict  of  these  discordant 
religions,  combined  with  the  increasing  disgust  of  the  provincials  for 
emperor-worship,  may  have  had  no  little  influence  in  facilitating  the 
subsequent  establishment  of  that  higher  and  purer  religion,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  taught  to  our  forefathers  by  St.  Augustine. 


54 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    REVOLT    UNDER    MAXIMUS,     383-9. 

Religions  of  Rome  and  Britain — Amity  of  the  polytheistic  Romans  and  Goths — 
Theodosius  the  Elder — His  government  of  Britain — Valentinian  destroys  a  Julian  altar 
at  Paris  and  consecrates  the  temple  to  "St.  Stephen,"  now  Notre  Dame — Theodosius 
indignant,  but  silent — He  is  removed  to  the  Rhine  frontier — Afterwards  to  Africa, 
where  he  chastises  the  Moors — He  is  unjustly  executed  by  Gratian — His  son,  Theo- 
dosius, duke  of  Mcesia,  flies  to  Spain — The  place  of  Theodosius  the  Elder  in  Britain 
is  filled  by  Maximus — The  Goths  rise  in  Moesia  and  defeat  and  kill  Valens — Gratian 
comes  to  the  rescue — He  calls  Theodosius  the  Younger  from  his  retirement  and  prom- 
ises him  the  Eastern  empire — Military  successes  of  the  latter — Peace  restored — Gratian 
renews  his  religious  reforms — Demolishes  the  altar  of  Victory — Confiscates  all  the 
property  of  the  Church  of  Rome — Bestows  its  livings  upon  Christians — Ambrose — 
Augustine — Priscillian — Revolt  of  Maximus  prompted  by  the  pagan  priests — Numbers 
of  the  insurgents — They  land  in  Gaul — Gratian  flies  from  Paris — His  betrayal  and 
assassination — Maximus,  who  is  recognized  by  Theodosius,  reigns  at  Paris — He 
attacks  Valentinian  II.,  at  Milan — Flight  of  the  latter  to  Theodosius — These  princes 
combine  and  defeat  Maximus — His  death — Theodosius  assigns  a  nominal  kingdom  to 
his  youthful  colleague  and  enters  Rome  in  triumph — The  senate  alters  the  official 
religion  of  the  empire — End  of  the  revolt  under  Maximus — Its  origin  and  results. 

PROF.  MAX  MULLER  has  somewhere  said  that  the  most  pro- 
found and  profitable  of  all  studies  is  the  contemplation  of  those 
steps  by  which  man  has  sought  to  approach  his  Maker — in  other  words 
— religion.  In  seeking  for  the  causes  of  the  decline  of  imperial  power 
in  Britain,  this  remark  receives  corroboration.  The  Romans  in  Britain, 
themselves  split  into  two  sects,  had  to  deal  with  two  other  religions 
besides  their  own,  the  druidical  religion  of  the  Gaels  and  the  Buddhic 
polytheism  of  the  Goths.  The  former  was  subject  to  an  ancient  hier- 
archy; the  latter  was  strengthened  by  no  such  bond.  The  former 
possessed  an  organized  body  of  priests  and  a  national  church;  the 
latter  was  destitute  of  either,  for  the  hirsars  were  warriors,  priests, 
and  magistrates  combined.  In  this  combination  their  sacerdotal  and 
civil  functions  were  relatively  unimportant.  The  druidical  religion 
had  nothing  in  common  with  one  of  the  two  great  sects  of  the  Ro- 
mans. The  Gothic  religion  resembled  the  polytheism  of  the  ancient 
Roman  Commonwealth.   Besides  substituting  Thor  for  Jupiter  Ton- 


THK    KKVOLT    UNDER    MAXIMUS,    383-9.  55 

ans,  Woden  for  Bacchus  '  and  Frica  for  Venus,  it  only  differed  from 
the  creed  of  Cicero,  Pliny,  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  or  any  of  the  classical 
writers  whose  works  have  been  permitted  to  reach  the  modern  world, 
as  all  coarse  conceptions  differ  from  refined  ones.  Hence  the  policy 
of  the  early  Roman  conquerors  of  Britain  was  to  encourage  and  make 
allies  of  the  Goths,  whose  religious  faith  harmonized  with  their  own 
most  ancient  one,  and  to  drive  out  or  extirpate  the  Gaels,  who  would 
probably  forever  remain  irreconcileable  enemies.  The  kingdoms 
granted  to  Prasutagus  and  Cogidanus  were  granted  not  to  Gaels  but  to 
Goths.  The  campaign  against  Mona*  was  directed  against  the  druidical 
hierarchy,  and  whilst  it  affected  the  Gaelic,  did  not  at  all  concern  the 
Gothic  chiefs,  who  shared  between  them  the  petty  kingdoms  of  Britain. 

So  long  as  the  Romans  held  fast  to  their  own  ancient  religion  they 
need  not  have  had  any  trouble  with  the  Goths,  The  latter  made  good 
citizens,  they  recruited  the  armies  and  fleets,  they  filled  the  offices  of 
state,  and  some  of  them  even  reached  the  imperial  throne.  But  when 
the  worship  of  the  emperor  was  added  to  the  polytheistic  religion, 
when  the  powers  of  the  imperial  government  were  lent  to  the  support 
of  the  former,  by  grants  of  lands,  slaves  and  benefices,  by  the  erec- 
tion of  temples,  and  by  the  employment  of  priests,  all  of  which  sup- 
port had  to  be  eventually  borne  by  the  people,  then  there  was  friction 
between  the  government  and  the  influential  classes  of  Rome;  and  re- 
sistance on  the  part  of  the  Gothic  and  semi-Gothic  inhabitants  of  the 
provinces.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  centuries  this  resistance 
burst  into  organized  rebellion,  and  this  rebellion  is  what  has  been  er- 
roneously styled  the  Barbarian  Invasions.  The  reader  will  have  already 
observed  some  evidences  of  Gothic  disaffection  in  the  desertions  of 
Gothic  troops  from  the  legions,  in  the  Caledonian  attacks  upon  the 
Roman  frontiers  of  Britain,  and  in  the  rebellion  under  Carausius.  He 
will  now  see  what  form  it  assumed  previous  to  that  last  and  success- 
ful effort  which  we  have  been  perversely  taught  to  regard  as  the  first 
Anglo-Saxon  invasion  of  Britain. 

'  "  Modern  painters  and  artists  have  thought  proper  to  represent  Bacchus  as  a  gross, 
vulgar,  and  bloated  personage;  on  the  contrary,  all  the  ancient  poets  and  artists  repre- 
sent him  as  a  youth  of  most  exquisite  beauty."  Note  to  Rev.  Wm.  Beloe's  Herodotus, 
p.  16.  The  bronze  Bacchus  taken  from  the  bed  of  the  Tiber  at  Rome  in  1SS5  has  the 
form  of  a  beautiful  youth  with  feminine  features  and  long  curling  hair,  parted  in  the 
middle.  As  represented  in  Lanciani's  heliotype,he  holds  in  one  hand  a  staff, surmounted 
by  some  conical  object.  If  this  belonged  to  the  figure,  when  found,  it  may  be  a  staff 
of  augury.  The  other  hand,  with  its  raised  forefinger,  imposes  silence,  a  familiar  attitude 
of  the  radiated  figures  of  the  same  god  which  Mr.  Barker  excavated  at  Tarsus  in  1 845  and 
attributed  to  liarpocrates,  Horus.etc.  Lanciani's  "Ancient  Rome, "  308 ;  Barker's  "Lares 
and  Penates,"  181.  "The  Greeks  assure  us  that  Bona  Dea  is  the  Mother  of  Bacchus, 
whose  holy  name  is  not  to  be  uttered."  Plutarch,  in  Julius  Cfcsar.  Bacchus  was  known 
to  the  Gauls  as  Ilesus.    '^  Mona  was  the  Celtic  name;  Anglesey,  the  Saxon  and  later  one. 


56  ANCIKNT     IIKITAIN. 

C)\vinj;'  to  the  nuitilation  of  Roman  literature  relative  to  the  fourth 
century  and  the  modern  habit  of  relying  too  exclusively  upon  the 
altered  fragments  and  spurious  substitutions  which  have  been  per- 
mitted to  survive,  no  satisfactory  account  exists  of  the  rebellion  of 
IMaximus/  The  history  of  this  occurrence  is  connected  with  the  life 
of  Theodosius  Saxonicus.  In  357,  Julian,  at  that  time  a  Coesar  and 
general  under  the  Emperor  Constantius,  sent  800  vessels  to  Britain 
for  corn.  In  360  his  head-quarters  were  at  Paris,  where  he  was  de- 
clared emperor  by  his  troops.  The  rising  of  the  North  Britons, which 
began  in  360,  may  have  derived  its  immediate  stimulus  from  the 
scarcity  occasioned  by  Julian's  demands  for  breadstuffs.  However 
this  may  be,  the  insurrections  of  the  northern  tribes  were  seconded 
in  364  by  a  numerous  fleet  from  the  coasts  of  Saxony.  The  operations 
of  these  combined  forces  threatening  the  loss  of  the  province,  Valen- 
tinian  I.,  then  emperor  of  the  West,  sent  Theodosius  in  367  with  a 
strong  legionary  force  to  chastise  the  insurgents  and  restore  the  im- 
perial or  proconsular  authority.  The  result  of  these  operations  was 
related  in  the  last  chapter. 

Valentinian  had  spent  the  previous  year,  365-6,  at  Paris,  whence 
he  directed  the  operations  of  Jovinus  against  the  Germans  (Alemanni) 
who  at  that  period  threatened  the  Upper  Rhine.  Here  the  emperor 
filled  up  the  intervals  of  war  with  the  labours  of  peace.  On  the  site 
now  occupied  by  Notre  Dame  stood  a  pagan  temple  once  dedicated 
to  Hesus  and  afterwards  to  Bacchus,  Valentinian  destroyed  the 
Bacchic  altar,  consecrated  the  church  to  St.  Stephen,^  and  in  like 
manner  proceeded  to  efface,  right  and  left,  every  public  monument 

^  The  main  object  of  the  fraudulent  history  of  Martin  (of  Tours)  and  other  monks 
was  to  suppress  the  acts  and  very  existence  of  Maximus,  says  Plerbert  in  his  ' '  Britannia 
after  the  Romans,"  i,  16. 

''In  1 71 1  were  exhumed  from  beneath  Notre  Dame  nine  large  stones,  forming  a  por- 
tion of  the  wall  and  altar  of  an  ancient  religious  edifice.  Two  of  them  constituted  an 
altar  which  had  on  its  four  sides,  ist.  The  effigy  and  name  of  lOVIS;  2nd,  The  name 
and  figure  of  VOLCAN\'S;  3rd,  The  name  and  figure  of  HESVS,  who  is  portrayed 
in  the  act  of  cutting  a  branch  of  mistletoe  with  a  hatchet ;  4th,  A  bull,  with  the  inscription, 
TAVROS  TRIGAR ANVS.  Another  stone,  of  a  later  period,  contained  a  dedication 
by  the  Nautns  Parisiaci,  as  follows:  TIB  C/ESARE  AVG  lOVI  OPTVM  MAXIMO 
NAVT^  PARISIACI  PVBLICE  POSIERVNT.  Another  altar,  of  still  later 
date,  was  subsequently  discovered  beneath  the  Rue  Mathurin,  with  the  following  in- 
scription: HOC  QVOU  EREXIT  ATRIVM  VIRTVS  CONSTANTII  D  SOLIS 
ORNAV  ALT  R  VIRTVS  JVLIANI  CyESARIS.  All  these  monuments  are  now 
in  the  Hotel  de  Cluny.  The  god  Hesus  is  thus  referred  to  in  the  Pharsalia  of  Lucan, 
lib.  I,  verse  445,  written  during  the  reign  of  Nero: 

Et  quibus  immitis  placatur  sanguine  diro 
Teutates  horrensque  feris  altaribus  Hesus. 
Teu-Tatt,  or  Deu-Tatt,  the  god  Tat,  is  one  of  the  many  names  of  the  Indian  Buddha, 
or  Bacchus.   Teutates  was  a  common  Roman  name  for  Scythians. 


THE    REVOLT    UNDER    MAXIMUS,    383-9.  57 

of  this  worship  which  defiled  the  Gaulic  metropolis.  The  details  of 
these  pious  labours,  if  they  ever  reached  the  ears  of  Theodosius  Sax- 
onicus,  could  scarcely  have  imparted  to  that  general  any  additional 
encouragement  in  his  campaigns  against  the  Caledonians  and  Saxons 
of  Britain,  for  Theodosius  himself,  so  far  as  he  professed  any  religion 
at  all,  sacrificed  at  the  very  same  altars  which  his  zealous  sovereign 
Valentinian  was  now  employed  in  suppressing.  However, Theodosius, 
above  all  things,  was  a  soldier  and  a  Roman.  Heedless  of  the  dis- 
quieting rumours  which  reached  him  from  Paris,  he  repaired  Britan- 
nia's military  Walls  once  more  and  drove  the  barbarians  beyond  them ; 
concluding  his  campaigns  in  370  and  leaving  Britain  at  peace  and  re- 
stored to  Roman  proconsular  rule.  During  the  following  year  he  was 
removed  to  the  Upper  Danube  and  employed  with  success  against 
the  Alemanni.  In  372  he  was  ordered  to  Africa.  Here  there  was  more 
trouble.  The  Moors  had  resisted  the  Roman  conscription  and  re- 
fused to  pay  the  tribute;  Romanus,  the  governor  of  Africa,  dissatis- 
fied with  the  sectarian  proceedings  of  the  emperor  Valentinian,  had 
made  common  cause  with  the  rebels;  and  the  entire  province  was  in 
a  ferment.  I'heodosius  appeared  on  the  scene  in  time  to  prevent  any 
systematic  combination  of  the  hostile  forces,  pursued  Firmus,  the 
Moorish  commander,  to  his  death,  completely  broke  up  and  dispersed 
the  enemy,  and  recovered  Africa  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  cam- 
paigns. In  376,  upon  the  conclusion  of  these  brilliant  services  to  the 
empire,  and  for  no  other  imaginable  reason  than  that,  as  a  Roman  of 
the  old  school,  he  refused  or  neglected  to  carry  out  the  iconoclastic 
commands  of  Gratian,  Theodosius  Saxonicus  was  coldly  beheaded  at 
Carthage. 

Gratian,  the  eldest  son  of  Valentinian  I.,  was  born  in  358,  received 
the  title  of  Augustus  during  his  childhood  and  succeeded  his  father 
to  the  western  division  of  the  empire  in  375.  To  conciliate  the  party 
(Arians)  which  had  proclaimed  his  infant  half-brother,  Valentinian  II., 
at  Rome,  he  resigned  Italy,  lUyricum,  and  Africa  to  the  supremacy 
of  the  latter,  reserving  for  himself  Spain,  Gaul  and  Britain.  In  re- 
spect of  Italy  and  Illyricum  the  partisans  of  Valentinian,  who  was 
then  but  four  or  five  years  of  age,  maintained  over  these  countries 
a  jealous  control;  in  respect  of  Africa,  the  military  operations,  still 
in  progress  there,  demanded  the  supervision  of  an  older  head,  and  the 
government  of  that  province  was  virtually  resigned  to  Gratian.  This 
prince,  with  his  father's  example  to  guide,  and  a  court  filled  with 
zealous  priests,  to  urge  him,  continued  those  attempts  to  mould  the 
religion  of  the  western  empire  which  Valentinian  I.  had  begun;  and 


58  ANCIENT    IIKITAIN. 

it  was  during  the  course  of  these  reforms  and  probably  through  some 
miscarriage  of  justice  that  the  faithful  Theodosius  suffered  an  un- 
timely and  undeserved  death.  At  that  period  the  victim's  son,  whose 
name  was  also  Theodosius,  held  a  command  in  Moesia,  with  the  title 
of  duke,  under  Valens,  emperor  of  the  East,  and  uncle  to  Gratian 
and  Valentinian  II.  Alarmed  at  the  sudden  and  tragical  fate  which 
had  befallen  his  father,  and  fearing  for  his  own  safety,  Theodosius 
fled  to  Spain,  his  native  province,  where  he  had  friends  and  could 
count  upon  a  safe  refuge.   We  shall  hear  of  him  again. 

Meanwhile  Gratian,  probably  not  sorry  to  escape  the  importunities 
of  the  sectarians  who  filled  his  court  of  Paris,  led  an  army  to  the 
Rhine,  where  in  378,  assisted  by  his  generals,  Nanienus  and  Mello- 
baudes,  ^  he  won  the  victory  of  Colmar  over  the  barbarians.  In  Britain, 
Theodosius  Saxonicus  had  been  succeeded  by  Maximus  Magnus,  who- 
also  repaired  the  Walls,  drove  the  Goths  into  Caledonia  and  erected 
the  territory  between  the  Walls  into  a  sub-province,  which,  after  the 
place  of  his  nativity  in  Spain,  or  else  in  deference  to  the  emperor  of 
Rome,  was  called  Valentia.  Some  war-clouds  were  gathering  over 
the  burning  sands  of  Numidia,  but  apart  from  these  distant  omens, 
the  Western  empire  was  apparently  at  peace  and  its  frontiers  secure 
from  barbarian  interruption.  Never  were  signs  more  deceptive.  In 
379  the  irrepressible  Goths  again  rose  and  captured  the  Roman  forts 
of  Lower  Moesia.  In  the  absence  of  the  duke  Theodosius,  who  alone 
had  fully  succeeded  in  repressing  this  turbulent  population,  the  em- 
peror Valens  was  obliged  to  take  the  field  in  person,  not,  however, 
without  calling  upon  his  nephew  Gratian  for  all  the  assistance  he  could 
afford.  Gratian  complied  with  this  request  by  dispatching  Count 
.Richomar  and  strong  reinforcements  to  the  frontiers  of  Moesia;  but 
Valens,  before  a  junction  could  be  effected  of  all  his  forces  and  re- 
lying too  much  upon  the  alliance  of  Fritigern,*  risked  a  battle  with 
the  insurgents,  was  defeated,  and  lost  his  life.  His  army  fled  to  Con- 
stantinople and  the  victorious  leader  of  the  Goths  indulged  his  fol- 
lowers in  the  sack  of  the  Roman  camps. 

There  was  but  one  man  whom  the  distracted  Gratian  could  depend 
upon  to  repair  this  misfortune  and  rescue  the  empire  from  the  greater 
danger  that  impended,  and  to  that  man  he  had  been  guilty,  probably 
more  from  neglect  and  the  vicarious  nature  of  his  government,  than 
from  intention,  of  the  gravest  injustice.     The  man  was  Theodosius, 

^  A  Frankish  king,  probably  a  vassal  of  the  empire. 

^  Fritigern  was  a  Gothic  leader,  who,  together  with  all  his  command,  had  deserted 
to  Valens. 


THE    REVOLT    UNDER    MAXIMUS,   383-9.  59 

whose  father  had  been  executed  at  Carthage,  for  no  worse  crime  than 
that  of  venerating  the  gods  under  whom  Rome  had  grown  from  a 
petty  village  to  become  mistress  of  the  world.  For  that  ungrateful 
and  unjust  execution  Gratian  was  morally  responsible.  However,  the 
exigency  was  pressing  and  Gratian  was  still  young  and  probably  pru- 
dent and  pliant  enough  to  address  a  letter  filled  with  such  sentiments 
of  patriotism,  flattery,  apology  and  promise,  as  were  likely  to  pro- 
pitiate and  move  the  exiled  duke.  The  latter  was  twelve  years  the 
senior  of  Gratian,  his  experience  had  been  ripened  by  a  long  residence 
near  the  court  of  Constantinople,  he  knew  from  his  father's  fate  how 
little  dependence  was  to  be  placed  upon  the  favour  of  princes,  and  he 
was'either  in  a  position  to  ask  for  terms,  or  Gratian  was  politic  or 
penitential  enough  to  offer  them.  These  terms  were  that  if  he  un- 
dertook to  rescue  the  Eastern  capital  from  its  present  peril,  he  should 
become  its  supreme  sovereign.  He  was  declared  Augustus,  January 
19th,  379;  his  sovereignty  embracing  Moesia,  Thrace,  Dacia,  Mace- 
donia, Egypt,  and  all  Asia.  Fixing  his  head-quarters  at  Thessalonica, 
Theodosius,  in  four  campaigns,  379-82,  effectually  suppressed  the 
Gothic  insurrection.  Many  of  the  leaders  were  killed,  Modar  and 
Athanaric  were  won  over,  and  their  followers  pacified,  some  of  them 
accepting  service  in  the  legions  and  submitting  to  that  very  conscrip- 
tion and  banishment  from  their  native  province, which  had  been  one 
of  the  causes  of  their  rebellion. 

Delivered  once  more  from  the  peril  of  insurrection,  Gratian  indulged 
in  another  of  those  dreams  of  false  security  which  had  already  cost 
him  four  years  of  anxiety.  Except  upon  the  grounds  that  Christianity 
ivas  embraced  in  order  to  discourage  and  destroy  eniperor-iuorship^  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  why  sovereigns,  who  must  have  been  aware  how 
largely  the  provinces  were  impregnated  with  Gothic  and  other  bar- 
barian blood  and  how  readily  this  fact  led  their  inhabitants  to  revolt 
from  any  measures  which  tended  to  excite  their  religious  or  political 
prejudices,  should  have  ventured  upon  the  experiments  which  distin- 
guished the  reigns,  not  merely  of  Gratian,  but  of  so  many  of  the  em- 
perors of  Rome,  both  before  and  after  his  time.  In  spite  of  an  utter 
lack  of  unity  among  themselves,  these  most  impolitic  politicians  were 
perpetually  interfering  with  the  religion  of  their  subjects,  some  de- 
manding worship  to  themselves,  some,  like  Elagabalus,  to  the  Sun, 
some,  like  Julian,  to  the  ancient  Greek  gods,  and  some,  as  we  are 
assured,  like  Gratian  and  Theodosius,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But 
so  it  was;  local  creeds,  incapable,  from  the  lack  of  any  such  agency 
as  the  modern  newspaper  press,  of  being  either  readily  diffused  (-.- 


6o  ANCIENT    r.RITAIN. 

readily  discouraged,  no  doubt  had  much  to  do  with  this  religious  un- 
rest. As  the  established  (pagan)  church  owned  half  the  lands  and 
slaves  of  Europe,  avidity  may  have  also  had  something  to  do  with  it. 
There  was  always  a  party  at  the  imperial  court  an.xious  for  the  sal- 
vation (and  endowments)  of  their  erring  brethren  in  possession.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  brethren  in  possession,  unweariedly  importuned 
the  emperor  for  their  adversaries'  heads.  Upon  close  inspection  these 
agreeable  sectarian  pastimes  will  be  found  to  fit  many  of  the  blanks 
bequeathed  to  us  by  ancient  writers  of  Roman  imperial  history. 

In  379  Gratian  held  his  court  at  Milan,  and  although  his  boyish 
brother,  Valentinian  II.,  remained  nominally  the  sovereign  of  Italy 
and  the  provinces  before  mentioned,  Gratian  really  exercised  supreme 
authority.  Urged,  no  doubt,  by  the  new-born  zeal  of  Ambrose,  ex- 
lawyer,  ex-politician,  and  ex-pagan  priest,  but  now  the  beloved  bishop 
•of  the  Milanese  Christians,  Gratian  imprudently  ordered  the  demoli- 
tion of  the  statue  of  Victory,  or  Bona-Mater,  which  adorned  the  senate 
of  Rome,and  was  the  symbol, alike  of  its  religion  and  its  military  glory, " 
An  ominous  silence  followed  this  act  of  sacrilege.  Mistaking  silence 
for  indifference,  Gratian,  still  under  the  influence  of  his  legal  and 
•ecclesiastical  friends  in  Milan,  proceeded  to  the  commission  of  a  far 
bolder  measure.  Here  he  was,  no  doubt,  largely  influenced  by  Theo- 
dosius.  This  prince — whether  from  policy  in  dealing  with  the  influ- 
ential classes  of  Constantinople,  who  were  now,  we  are  assured,  com- 
posed entirely  of  "Christians,"  or  bearing  in  mind  the  unfortunate 
fate  of  his  father — had  caused  himself  to  be  baptized  a  Christian  in 
the  first  year  of  his  reign.  Before  the  Gothic  insurrection  was  entirely 
suppressed,  namely,  in  381,  he  is  said  to  have  assembled  an  ecclesi- 
astical council  at  the  capital,  confirmed  the  profession  of  faith  and 
other  proceedings  at  Nicaea,  and  issued  several  edicts  against  non- 
conformists. Gratian's  measure  was  no  less  than  the  confiscation  of 
all  the  lands,  slaves,  treasures,  benefices,  revenues,  privileges,  and 
livings  of  the  Roman  church  throughout  the  Western  empire,  which 
he  declared  to  be  of  right  the  property  of  the  imperial  fisc,  and  which 
he  withdrew  from  its  pagan,  to  bestow  upon  Christian  incumbents, 
many  of  whom,  like  Ambrose  and  Augustine,  had  been  recently  con- 
verted from  the  polytheistic,  the  Julian  or  Augustan,  the  Bacchic,  the 
IManichaean,  and  other  idolatrous  or  mythological  worships.*  But  in 
■"  See  the  "  Mother  of  God  "  in  the  Index  to  "  The  Worship  of  Augustus  Cresar." 
^  Gratian's  confiscation  of  the  property  of  the  church  is  dated  by  Dr.  Lardner,  (iv, 
455,)  in  A.  D.  382.  Lanciani,  172,  dates  the  imperial  decree  in  A.  D.  383.  Mithraic 
shrines  continued  to  be  erected  in  public  places  throughout  Italy  until  A.  D.  390. 
Baedecker's  "Central  Italy."  In  Britain,  probably  also  in  Italy,  they  were  erected  so 
late  as  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 


THE    REVOLT    UNDER    MAXIMUS,    383-9.  61 

preparing  a  smooth  way  for  Christianity  in  the  East,  by  removing  all 
the  Christians  and  all  the  treasures  of  the  empire  to  Constantinople, 
its  founder  had  left  a  rough  road  for  it  in  the  West.  The  Goths  of 
Moesia  might  be  placated;  the  Goths  of  Britain  and  Saxony  could 
only  be  incensed. 

The  news  of  Gratian's  edict  spread  through  the  provinces  like  wild- 
fire. It  was  a  tocsin  that  summoned  every  malcontent  to  arms.  This 
time  the  old  school  priests  were  with  the  rebels,  and  under  their 
cautious  advice  an  insurrection  was  quietly  organized  in  Britain,  whose 
remoteness  and  insular  position  afforded  that  secrecy  and  time  for 
preparation,  which  were  deemed  essential  to  success.  Meanwhile 
Gratian,  who  appeared  to  have  had  no  suspicion  of  the  coming  storm, 
quietly  journeyed  with  his  court  to  Paris,  amusing  himself  on  the  way 
with  those  idle  pleasures  of  the  chase,  between  which  and  the  enact- 
ment of  religious  reforms,  he  appeared  to  divide  the  most  of  his  time. 
The  vast  numbers  who  followed  the  standard  of  Maximus  Magnus 
entirely  forbid  the  notion  that  the  insurgent  army  was  of  Britons 
alone. °  The  numbers  of  women  who  joined  it  is  an  indication  of  its 
semi-religious  organization.  This  peculiar  character,  and  its  subse- 
quent safe  landing  and  march  to  Paris,  are  evidences  that  it  was  en- 
couraged and  aided  by  the  inhabitants  of  Gaul. 

All  being  ready,  the  insurgents,  in  the  year  383,  clapped  a  crown 
upon  the  dull  and  dizzy  head  of  Maximus  and  declaring  him  emperor 
of  Rome,  sworn  to  ' '  the  defence  of  Jupiter  and  of  all  the  Gods, "  de- 
manded to  be  led  against  the  impious  Gratian.  The  fleet  was  ready, 
the  sea  smooth,  the  wind  fair,  and  countless  friends  stood  ready  to  wel- 
come and  assist  the  rebels  on  the  opposite  shore.  Maximus  accepted 
the  fatal  distinction,  took  his  boy,  Victor,  by  the  hand,  hai'angued 
the  troops  to  the  point  of  military  enthusiasm,  and  led  the  march  to 
Dover.  In  a  week's  time  this  strange  armament,  which  included  not 
only  the  troops,  the  Roman-British  and  Roman-Gothic  citizens,  and 
the  women,  but  also  many  of  the  Goths  who  had  been  driven  beyond 
the  Walls,  and  a  fleet  of  Norse  boats  employed  for  the  occasion,  landed 
safely  in  Gaul.  Here  it  was  joined  by  additional  numbers,  and  the 
incongruous  host  took  up  its  march  for  Paris. 

So  successfully  had  the  secret  of  this  insurrection  been  preserved, 
that  Gratian's  first  intimation  of  it  was  when  Maximus  was  close  to 

'  Archbishop  Usher  computed  the  followers  of  Maximus  at  30,000  soldiers,  100,000 
citizens,  11,000  women  of  the  noble  classes,  and  6000  of  theplebian  class.  Antiq.  Brit. 
Eccl.,  107-S.  If  any  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  these  details,  they  indicate  not  merely 
a  local  insurrection,  but  a  crusade. 


62  ANCIENT    liRlTAlN. 

Paris.  The  defenses  and  resources  of  the  place  were  inadequate  to 
resist  such  a  force,  there  was  no  army  within  call,  and  it  was  difficult 
to  determine  whom  to  trust.  Gratian  had  no  resource  but  immediate 
flight,  and  so  away  he  went,  taking  the  road  to  Lyons,  with  the  cavalry 
of  Ma.ximus  in  hot  pursuit.  Before  they  could  overtake  him,  the  un- 
fortunate young  man  was,  like  Julius  Caisar,  betrayed  by  one  of 
his  comes  palatini.  He  was  killed  by  Andragathius,  commander 
of  the  advance  guard  of  Maximus.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  latter, 
all  that  was  left  of  his  noble  and  imperial  rival  was  his  lifeless 
body. 

With  military  promptness,  Maximus  made  the  best  use  of  his  ad- 
vantage, by  immediately  threatening  to  invade  Italy.  From  this  design 
he  was  dissuaded  by  Theodosius,  who  agreed  to  recognize  him  as  em- 
peror of  the  West,  upon  condition  that  he  did  not  attempt  to  cross 
the  Alps.  Returning  to  Treves,  where  he  fixed  his  headquarters,'" 
]\Iaximus  supported  the  ancient  worship,  both  in  Gaul  and  Britain, 
and  proclaimed  his  son,  Victor,  as  his  colleague. "  Tired  of  an  inactive 
life,  and  perhaps  urged  on  by  those  priests  of  polytheism  who  hoped 
for  a  restoration  of  the  ancient  rites  in  the  central  provinces,  Maximus 
left  Paris  in  3S7  and,  attended  by  a  well-armed  and  numerous  force, 
crossed  the  Alps  and  laid  siege  to  Milan,  where  Valentinian  II.  held 
his  court.  Upon  the  flight  of  the  latter  to  Thessalonica,  Maximus 
captured  the  city  and,  after  recruiting  his  army,  marched  on  to  Aqui- 
laeia,  made  that  place  his  base  of  supplies,  and  thence  sent  an  army 
into  Pannonia.  Meanwhile,  Valentinian  II.  reached  Theodosius,  and 
the  combined  forces  of  these  princes  came  up  with  and  defeated  the 
army  of  Maximus,  near  Siscia,  on  the  Save.  Maximus  fled  to  Aquilaeia, 
where,  in  3S8,  he  was  captured  and  executed;  a  fate  that  soon  after 
overtook  the  innocent  colleague  whom  he  had  left  on  his  throne  in 
Gaul.  The  prisoners  taken  at  Siscia  and  Aquil?eia  were  drafted  into 
the  imperial  army ;  Theodosius  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  the  whole 
empire,  renouncing  to  Valentinian  only  the  petty  throne  of  Milan; 
fresh  legions  were  ordered  to  Gaul  and  Britain;  and  in  389  the  son 
of  the  murdered  governor  of  Africa,'^  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  where 

"Gildas,  I,  13. 

*'  Maximus  has  been  charged  with  the  death  of  Priscillian,  the  "  Christian  "  bishop 
of  Avilar.  Both  of  these  statements  appear  to  be  untrue.  Priscillian  was  put  to  death 
by  one  of  his  own  followers.  Rose,  Biog.  Die.  He  was  not  a  Christian,  but  a  Manichrean, 
The  edict  of  Diocletian.preservedbyllermogenes,  only  mentions  Manichreans.  Taylor, 
249.  At  all  events,  Priscillian  is  said  to  have  been  condemned  as  heretical  by  the  council 
of  Saragossa,  in  3S0. 

'-  Theodosius  had  now  become  Augustus,  Cresar,  and  Sacratissimus  Princeps. 


THE    REVOLT    UNDER    MAXIMUS,   383-9.  63 

we  are  told  that  during  the  same  year,"  an  obedient  senate  voted 
Christianity  to  be  the  official  religion  of  the  state  and  bestowed  the 
livings  of  the  old  church  upon  the  priests  of  the  new. 

Thus  ended  the  rebellion  of  Maximus.  It  was  excited  at  Rome,  or- 
ganized in  London,  matured  at  Paris,  carried  to  Milan,  and  finally 
suppressed  at  Aquihneia.  Its  origin  was  the  confiscation  of  the  pagan 
church  property  and  benefices  by  Gratian;  its  culmination  saw  the 
ancient  worship  and  the  property  of  the  church  restored  ;  and  its  sup- 
pression was  marked  by  the  official  acceptance  of  Christianity  on  the 
part  of  the  Roman  government.'*  But  although  Maximus  was  sup- 
pressed, the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Goths  was  not  appeased.  No  sooner 
had  Theodosius  reseated  the  youthful  Valentinian  upon  his  throne 
and  left  Milan  for  Constantinople,  than  Arbogastes,  a  Frankish  general, 
the  second  in  command  of  the  Roman  armies,  rebelled  against  the 
new  order  of  affairs,  procured  the  assassination  of  Valentinian,  in  392, 
and  seated  a  Roman  rhetorician,  one  Eugenius,  upon  the  throne  of 
the  Cffisars.  Among  the  first  acts  of  the  new  monarch  was  the  restora- 
tion of  its  property  and  livings  to  the  pagan  church  and  priesthood. 
Upon  receiving  information  of  these  transactions,  Theodosius  made 
deliberate  preparations  for  war,  and  in  394  marched  through  Hungary 
to  AquilcTeia,  where  Eugenius  was  intrenched,  but  which  place  proved 
as  fatal  to  him  as  to  Maximus.  A  few  days  later  Theodosius  again 
entered  Rome  in  triumph  and  at  once  restored  the  church  properties 
and  livings  to  the  Christian  priests.'^  It  is  from  this  date,  therefore, 
that  must  be  reckoned  the  definitive  downfall  of  paganism  and  the 
adoption  of  "Christianity  "  by  the  court  of  Rome. 

•3  Thackeray, vit.  Prudentius, dates  the  official  adoption  of  Christianity  in  384.  Gibbon, 
•chapter  xxviii,  says  after  the  first  triumph  of  Theodosius,  which  would  make  it  389. 
In  393  Eugenius  re-established  the  ancient  worship.  Zosimus,  a  contemporary  author, 
says  that  Christianity  was  restored  and  established  after  the  defeat  of  Eugenius.  This 
makes  it  394.  Consult  Lanciani,  "Pagan  and  Christian  Rome,"  p.  39,  for  the  con- 
secration of  the  temples  as  "Christian"  churches  in  393. 

'■*  The  official  acceptance  of  "Christianity"  in  Rome  does  not  imply  its  acceptance 
by  the  people  of  the  provinces.  This  did  not  occur  in  Britain  until  after  the  si.xth  century. 

'^  Lanciani,  177. 


64 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    REPUTED    INVASION    BY    HENGIST    AND    HORSA. 

Absence  of  Christian  remains  in  Roman  Britain — Murder  of  Valentinian  II. — 
Theodosius  becomes  sole  emperor — His  death — Succession  of  his  two  children,  Ar- 
cadius  and  Honorius — Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Goths  under  Alaric — Troubles  in  Gaul — 
Withdrawal  of  the  imperial  troops  from  Britain — The  Caledonians  and  Saxons  of 
Britain  occupy  York  and  London — Britain  falls  quietly  into  Gothic  hands  and  is  not 
conquered  by  an  invasion  of  Saxons — Exaggeration  and  perversion  of  the  monkish 
chronicles — The  Goths  really  conserved,  rather  than  destroyed,  the  Roman  govern- 
ment— Some  cities  of  Britain  remained  Roman  until  the  seventh  century — Gothic  cap- 
tives sent  by  them  as  slaves  to  Rome — Accounts  of  Gildas,  Nennius,  and  Bede  discredited 
by  archteologists — Intrinsic  evidence  of  their  falsity — Their  mischievous  influence. 

IF  there  is  any  period  in  the  remains  of  which  the  antiquarian  might 
hope  to  search  successfully  for  evidences  of  the  appearance  of 
Christianity  in  Britain,  that  period  is  between  the  years  389  and  449, 
the  first  being  Gibbon's  date  for  the  official  promulgation  of  the  new 
religion  at  Rome,  the  last  being  that  assigned  by  Horsley  for  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Roman  legions  from  Britain  to  the  Continent.  Yet, 
as  shown  in  another  part  of  this  work,  no  such  remains  have  been 
found.  Their  absence  can  be  accounted  for  on  either  of  three  grounds; 
first,  the  symbols  of  "early  Christianity"  may  not  have  differed  suf- 
ficiently from  those  of  earlier  religions  to  be  distinguished  from  them ; 
second,  the  inscriptions  or  insignia  of  early  Christianity  may  have 
been  originally  so  interwoven  or  mixed  up  with  those  of  other  re- 
ligions as  to  have  rendered  the  publication  of  this  fact  inexpedient. 
The  monuments  dug  up  in  the  Rue  Mathurin  appear  to  furnish  an  in- 
stance of  this  character;  third,  the  remoteness  and  polytheistic  pro- 
clivities of  the  islanders  may  have  rendered  it  impolitic  to  attempt 
the  evangelization  of  Britain  at  this  period. 

It  may  be  safely  surmised  that  the  legions  whom  Theodosius  de- 
spatched to  Britain  were  not  composed  of  those  Gothic  polytheists 
whose  fraternizations  with  the  Roman  soldiers  had  laid  the  grounds 
for  so  many  mutinies,  desertions,  and  rebellions.  These  guardians  of 
Britain's  peace  were  very  much  more  likely  to  have  been  drafted  from 


THE    REPUTED    INVASION    P.Y    HENGIST    AND    HURSA.  65 

Syria,  Egypt,  or  Africa.  Whoever  they  were,  the  new-comers  were 
certainly  not  Christians,  for  they  have  left  no  Christian  memorials 
behind  them,  indeed  "Christianity"  as  yet  was  chiefly  confined  to 
the  intellectual  classes  of  the  principal  imperial  cities  and  had  hardly 
more  than  made  its  appearance  among  the  ranks  from  whom  the  pro- 
vincial legions  were  drawn.  To  have  introduced  the  new  religion  of 
Rome  to  the  idolatrous  troops  quartered  in  Britain  would  have  been 
a  dangerous  experiment.  Britain  was  not  Syria, and  any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  Theodosius  to  transfer  the  pagan  church-livings  of  Brit- 
ain, to  the  ministers  of  Christianity,  or  worse  still,  to  demand  worship 
for  his  own  image,  as  he  did  at  Antioch  in  387,  would  have  been  in- 
stantly followed  by  another  rebellion  of  the  people. 

Indeed,  beyond  keeping  the  Caledonians  and  Saxons  at  a  distance, 
the  functions  of  the  imperial  government,  whether  civil  or  religious, 
were  exerted  so  faintly  during  the  interval  between  the  revolt  of  Max- 
imus  and  the  final  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  that  some  writers  have 
imagined  that  a  sort  of  republic  filled  up  this  ^era  and  have  peopled 
it  with  that  race  of  aboriginal  Britons  who  in  point  of  fact  had  been 
entirely  extirpated  two  centuries  previously.  Briton  is  a  designation 
to  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  at  this  period  had  about  as  much 
right  as  an  American  of  to-day  has  to  the  name  of  Indian. 

From  the  death  of  the  ill-starred  prince  of  Milan  Theodosius  plucked 
both  the  sweets  of  revenge  and  of  undivided  empire.  Valentinian 
was  the  last  of  the  royal  house  that  had  authorized  the  execution  of 
Theodosius  Saxonicus,  and,  in  the  autumn  of  394,  Theodosius  I.  be- 
came both  de  facto  and  de  jure  sole  emperor  of  the  Roman  world. 
He  lived  just  four  months  to  enjoy  this  elevation  and  died  in  the  fol- 
lowing January,  leaving  the  empire  divided  between  Arcadius,  aged 
twelve,  and  Honorius,  aged  eleven.  In  conformity  with  the  father's 
will,  the  former,  under  the  guardianship  of  Rufinus,  took  the  Eastern 
empire;  the  latter,  under  that  of  Stilicho,  took  the  Western. 

The  invasion  of  Italy,  first  by  the  Goths  under  Alaric,  next  by  the 
Mecklenburgers  under  Rada  Gaisus,'  and  again  by  the  Goths  under 
Alaric,  the  flight  of  Honorius  and  his  court  to  Ravenna  and  the  cap- 
ture and  sack  of  Rome  by  the  Goths,  all  occurred  during  the  first 
decade  of  the  fifth  century,  and  put  the  seal  to  that  feudalization  of 
the  empire  which  began  with  the  birth  of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  and 
only  ended  with  its  dissolution.  Henceforth  we  shall  not  have  to  deal 
with  Britain  through  the  empire,  but  with  the  empire  through  Britain. 

'  Rada-Gaisus  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  deities  worshipped  by  the  coast  tribes. 
Mascou,"  Hist.Ger.,"  viii,i4.  He  died  A. D.  406.  "  The  Worship  of  Augustus,"  p.  196. 


66  ANCIKNT    r.RriAIN. 

'I'lic  imperial  j^^nvcrment  now  ^^ovcriied  only  the  lords  whom  it  had 
created.  It  had  no  longer  any  direct  relations  with  the  people.  It 
liad  long  lived  in  an  atmosi)ere  of  myths  and  in  unison  with  its  sur- 
roundings, it  had  almost  become  a  myth  itself.  The  ease  with  which 
the  imi)erial  insignia  were  assumed  by  upstarts  all  over  the  Roman 
vorld  is  a  warning  that  the  possession  of  these  insignia  should  not  be 
regarded  as  the  evidence  of  real  power;  they  belonged  to  a  suzer- 
ainty bereft  of  armies  or  treasure.  The  real  elements  of  power  had 
long  been  in  the  hands  of  the  provincial  lords,  who  as  a  rule  only  re- 
frained from  divorcing  their  provinces  from  the  empire,  out  of  respect 
for  its  religious  character  and  because  there  was  practically  nothing 
to  be  gained  by  secession.^  The  child-like  confidence  with  which  these 
events  and  circumstances  have  been  regarded  as  the  consequence  of 
"successive  waves  of  barbarians  pushing  westward  from  the  north- 
east in  search  of  new  lands,"  would  be  entertaining  did  it  not  serve 
to  wholly  conceal  and  pervert  the  truth  of  history. 

Some  of  the  troops  with  whom  the  province  of  Britain  was  rein- 
forced during  the  reign  of  Theodosius  were  sent  to  the  aid  of  Gaul 
during  the  regency  of  Stilicho.  In  430  the  remaining  forces  of  the 
Western  empire  in  Britain  were  withdrawn  to  the  Continent  and  the 
proconsul  was  left  to  his  own  resource's.  One  of  his  first  movements 
was  the  abandonment  of  York  and  concentration  of  his  forces  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  province;  whereupon  the  Caledonians  and  Sax- 
ons advanced  and  occupied  the  deserted  city.  In  443  the  Romano- 
Gothic  lords  in  Britain  appealed  to  yEtius,  the  Roman  proconsul  of 
Gaul,  for  military  aid  to  repel  the  barbarians.  In  444,  or  according 
to  Horsley  446,  they  made  a  similar  appeal;  and  although  these  ap- 
plications were  answered  by  the  appearance  of  forces  that  served  for 
a  brief  interval  to  turn  back  the  Caledonians  and  suppress  the  insur- 
gents who  were  overrunning  the  province,  the  Roman  troops  were 
again  withdrawn,  this  time  never  to  return  to  Britain. 

All  was  now  over.  The  Western  empire  was  itself  sunk  into  decay; 
since  the  revolt  of  Maximus  its  authority  had  been  almost  unfelt  in 
Britain,  and  for  more  than  half  a  century  the  Romano-Goths  had 
lived  in  a  state  of  feudal  independence  which  the  imperial  govern- 

^  In  point  of  fact,  two  secessions  occurred  in  Britain.  In  407  Gratianus  Municeps 
•established  an  independent  government  in  that  island.  Being  soon  after  Ivilled,  he  was 
:succeeded  by  Constantine,  a  legionary  soldier,  who,  after  seizing  the  government, 
crossed  over  into  Gaul  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Franks  and  other  barbarians,  brought 
that  province  also  into  subjection.  He  fixed  his  court  at  Aries,  where  he  was  defeated 
and  killed  by  an  imperial  force  under  command  of  count  Constantius.  His  son,  Con- 
stans,  whom  he  had  created  Cresar,  was  killed  at  Vienne  by  count  Gerontius.   Bede.l,  il. 


THE    REPUTED    INVASION    BV    HENGIST    AND    HORSA.  67 

ment  had  grown  less  and  less  disposed  to  disturb.  The  proconsul  of 
Gaul  had  as  much  as  he  could  do  to  preserve  his  authority  in  his  own 
province.  In  405-6  the  Vandals  (Goths)  had  risen;  in  412,  a  Roman 
general,  Jovinus,  revolted  from  his  allegiance  to  the  empire, assumed 
the  purple  in  Gaul  and  rewarded  his  Gothic  allies  with  the  grant  of 
that  territory  (valley  of  the  Rhone,)  which  they  named  the  Kingdom 
of  Burgundy;  and  in  419,  the  Goths  occupied  not  only  Burgundy  but 
also  almost  the  entire  southern  portion  of  Gaul.  Finally  in  45 1  a  new 
and  formidable  enemy,  tempted  by  the  distractions  of  the  empire  and 
the  hope  of  spoil,  overran  the  whole  of  northern  Europe  and  entered 
Gaul  near  the  city  of  Chalons-sur-Marne.  These  were  the  Huns  under 
Attila. 

The  departure  of  the  troops  from  Britain  was  not  long  afterwards 
followed  by  the  advance  of  the  Goths  from  York  to  London.  That 
some  accession  of  Scythians,'  Saxons,  Angles,  Jutes,  Franks,  Frisians, 
and  other  ripuarian  tribes  from  the  Continent,  occurred  at  this  pe- 
riod, is  not  denied ;  on  the  contrary,  the  Hunnish  invasion  of  northern 
Europe  renders  it  extremely  likely.  What  is  denied  is  that  they  came 
otherwise  than  as  exiles  seeking  refuge  with  their  kinsmen,  who  were 
already  in  the  peaceable  and  almost  entire  possession  of  an  unde- 
fended province.  As  the  Goths  advanced,  the  proconsular  forces  re- 
treated further  south,  and  within  easier  reach  of  succour  from  Gaul. 
We  are  told  that  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  century  the  king  of  Denmark, 
Ivan  Vidfami,  rebuilt  London,^  whose  battlements  had  probably  been 
dismantled  by  the  Romans  at  the  time  when  they  fell  back  upon  the 
coast.  The  monkish  chronicles  say  nothing  about  Ivan  Vidfami,  nor 
do  they  credit  the  Goths  with  having  rebuilt  anything.  According 
to  them  it  was  all  destruction.  For  example,  Cynewolf  in  describing 
the  fall  of  Anderida,  mentions  the  princely  temples  with  roofs  of 
"gold  "  and  filled  with  furniture  of  silver  and  gems,  that  were  set 
afire,  the  baths  exploding  in  flames  and  steam  and  the  Saxon  chief- 
tains decked  with  spoil  and  drunk  with  Roman  wine.  As  though  con- 
firming this  view  Elton  says:  "  A  few  ruins  near  Pevensy  were  long 
shown  to  travellers  as  all  that  remained  of  the  noble  city."    It  may 

^  "Scythians  "  are  distinctly  included  among  the  conquerors  of  Britain  by  Nennius, 
As  the  tract  ascribed  to  this  author  is  an  alteration  or  forgery  of  the  twelfth  century, 
it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  search  into  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  in  this  place.  However, 
as  Bede  makes  a  similar  statement,  the  phrase  was  probably  taken  from  the  original 
but  now  lost  story,  upon  which  both  of  these  writers  built  their  chronicles  of  Britain. 
Anciently  all  that  part  of  Scythia  now  embraced  in  the  governments  of  Esthonia,  Peters- 
burgh,  and  Novgorod,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Goths,  or  Sac£e. 

*  Ragnar  Ladbrok's  Saga,  cc.  10-19. 


68  ANCIENT    URITAIN. 

be  added  of  Wroxeter,  a  Roman  provincial  city  of  the  first  class,  that 
nothing  remained  to  mark  its  site  but  a  petty  village.  Kinchester, 
Lincoln  and  Weston  must  have  been  considerable  cities,  judging  from 
the  extent  of  their  Roman  remains;  so  was  Cirencester  at  the  source 
of  the  Thames.  There  is  little  more  left  of  them  than  their  ashes. 
The  devastation  committed  in  these  places  is  not  denied, but  it  must 
be  attributed  to  another  occasion  than  a  German  invasion  of  the  fifth 
century,  which  never  took  place,  and  to  another  motive  than  a  ruth- 
less desire  to  destroy,  which  never  existed.  During  the  entire  interval 
between  366  and  446  the  island  was  a  sctme  of  feudal  anarchy,  in 
which  the  Roman  forces  from  Gaul  alternately  appeared  and  van- 
ished and  Roman  civilization  flickered  and  expired.  In  the  fore- 
ground stood  a  mass  of  discontented  provincials,  that  is  to  say,  Romans 
and  Goths  and  Romano-Goths,  who  again  and  again  fraternized  with 
each  other,  revolted  against  the  suzerainty  of  Rome,  and  overthrew 
the  altars  of  the  impious  Augustan  religion.  In  the  background,  al- 
ways prepared  to  move  to  the  front,  were  the  Caledonians  and  the 
wild  Norse  tribes,  who  were  related  to  the  provincials,  and  shared 
their  prejudices,  but  to  whom  the  prospect  of  plunder  was  always 
necessary  to  awaken  their  sense  of  kinship  or  to  stimulate  their  latent 
energies.  These  and  the  Romans  themselves,  who  dismantled  the 
fortifications  which  they  abandoned,  were  the  authors  of  the  devas- 
tations that  occurred  during  the  fifth  century;  and  not  the  mythical 
Hengist  or  Horsa.  To  these  principal  agencies  may  be  added  the  re- 
volt of  Maximus,  which  could  hardly  have  occurred  without  some  re- 
sistance on  the  part  of  the  Augustan  priests  and  their  adherents;  a 
resistance  that  would  naturally  be  followed  by  attacks  upon  their  tem- 
ples and  other  places  of  security  or  refuge.  In  these  attacks  the  fury 
of  the  assailants  may  often  have  overcome  their  prudence,  and  con- 
trary to  their  own  interests  and  intentions,  both  temples,  villas  and 
cities,  may  have  been  sacked  or  burnt  to  the  ground.  All  revolts 
are  attended  with  bloodshed  and  religious  revolts  are  commonly  the 
bloodiest. 

Twenty  feet  beneath  the  cities  of  York,  London,  Wroxeter,  Kin- 
chester, Lincoln,  Weston,  Cirencester,  etc.,  there  is  a  Roman  city, 
utterly  destroyed;  but  these  cities  did  not  fall  at  the  same  time  nor 
from  the  same  causes.  Some  fell  during  the  religious  wars  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  some  during  the  Romano-Gothic  insur- 
rections of  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  some  beneath  the  hands  of 
retreating  Romans  in  the  fourth  century,  some  were  possibly  de- 
stroyed by  the  Goths  when  they  advanced  from  Valentia  to  Britan- 


THE    REPUTED    INVASION    BY    HENGIST    AND    HORSA.  69 

nia  Prima,  while  others  held  out  as  Roman  cities  until  the  seventh 
or  eighth  centuries,  to  fall  at  last  by  the  hands  of  an  entirely  new 
class  of  contestants  or  religious  bigots.^  But  there  is  no  warrant  at 
all  for  attributing  to  the  Goths  of  Britain,  as  some  writers  have  done, 
the  same  sort  of  devastation  which  was  said  to  have  been  committed 
by  their  brethren  in  Moesia.  Says  St.  Jerome,  who  claims  to  have 
been  an  eye-witness  of  these  acts  of  violence:  "  Little  was  left  ex- 
cept the  sky  and  the  earth, and  after  the  destruction  of  the  cities  and 
the  extirpation  of  the  Roman  race  the  land  was  overgrown  with  thick 
forests  and  inextricable  brambles."  It  has  been  the  policy  of  the 
Church  to  suppress  all  mention  of  emperor-worship  and  the  revolts 
which  it  occasioned  in  the  provinces.  To  account  for  these  revolts 
it  was  obliged  to  invent  the  Barbarian  invasions  and  to  ascribe  all  the 
•devastation  and  cruelties  of  the  former  to  the  latter.  When  we  con- 
sider the  abominable  form  of  idolatry  which  the  new  Church  was  en- 
gaged in  uprooting,  there  was  much  excuse  for  these  fictions,  but 
there  is  no  necessity  to  keep  them  up  any  longer. 

The  general  conduct  and  policy  of  the  Goths  and  dissenting  Ro- 
mans was  not  to  destroy,  but  rather  to  conquer  and  conserve.  There 
was  no  motive  for  destruction.  In  the  blind  fury  of  battle  and  es- 
pecially where  the  resistance  was  prolonged  or  accompanied  by  cir- 
cumstances that  excited  the  anger  of  the  belligerents,  the  accounts 
transmitted  to  us  may  be  sufficiently  faithful,  but  such  resistance  was 
not  always  nor  even  generally  offered.  Many  cities  made  no  resist- 
ance to  the  insurgents,  others  surrendered  upon  terms.  The  great 
care  which  the  revolutionists  took  to  keep  the  communities  intact  and 
the  privilege  which  they  accorded  the  Roman  portion  of  them  to  live 
under  their  own  laws,  affords  a  sufficient  assurance  that,  generally 
speaking,  the  latter  were  neither  tortured  nor  exterminated.  In  the 
course  of  a  graphic  picture  which  he  draws  of  the  occupation  of  Brit- 
ain by  the  Saxons,  Gibbon,  iii,  620,  says  they  "violated  without  re- 
morse the  most  sacred  objects  of  the  Christian  worship."  The  nu- 
merous archaeological  discoveries  which  have  been  made  since  this 
historian  penned  his  immortal  treatise  on  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  enable  us  with  some  confidence  to  substitute  in  this 
passage  the  word  "  Roman,"  for  "  Christian."  The  temples  that  fell 
at  Anderida  and  elsewhere  were  temples  of  Augustus,  not  of  Christ; 
the  bishops  who  discreetly  retired  with  their  holy  relics  into  Wales 
and  Armorica  were  bishops  of  the  pagan,  not  the  Christian  church; 

*  Gibbon;  Savigny;  Sir  F.  Palgrave,  i,  vi;  Du  Bos,  11,  333,  524;  D'Acher,  Specileg., 
XI.  345. 


yo  ANCIENT    liKITAIN. 

and  the  sacred  objects  which  the  Saxons  seized  and  appropriated^ 
many  of  which  are  in  our  museums  to-day,  bear  not  one  of  them  a 
distinctively  Christian  mark.  After  the  Gothic  risings  and  the  sup- 
pression of  Roman  imperial  authority  the  spoils  which  had  been  taken 
by  the  former  were  partly  employed  to  repay  the  jarls  of  Norway  and 
Denmark  who  had  furnished  ships,  men  and  arms  to  the  rebels.  Many 
of  these  spoils  still  survive  in  the  antiquarian  collections  of  Scandi- 
navia. Others  of  similar  character  are  in  the  museums  of  Britain. 
They  consist  of  Roman  gold  and  silver  coins,  jewelry,  golden  bowls- 
and  vases,  fibulre,  precious  glassware,  gold-mounted  swords  and  har- 
ness, and  a  great  variety  of  other  articles.  A  recent  writer,  Mr.  Du 
Chaillu,  has  strangely  mistaken  these  relics  for  specimens  of  Norse 
handiwork.  Their  Roman  workmanship  and  origin  are  so  obvious- 
that  his  opinion  on  this  point  needs  no  further  refutation. 

In  the  religious  wars  of  Britain  during  the  fourth  century,  to  which 
period  we  have  ventured  to  assign  many  of  the  relics  of  devastation 
which  have  rewarded  archseological  research, the  destructive  acts  were 
not  confined  to  the  insurgents;  similar  acts  were  also  committed  by 
the  troops.  As  the  former  had  neither  stone  altars  to  be  defaced,  nor 
temples  to  be  overthrown,  the  troops  satiated  their  animosity  in  blood, 
violence,  and  the  sale  of  captives.  The  insurgent  towns,  whether  be- 
trayed or  surprised,  were  always  ruined.  The  people  who  were  not 
cut  down  were  enthralled  and  sold  in  the  slave  marts  of  the  Conti- 
nent, the  women  were  foully  treated,  the  aged  and  infants  were  left 
to  perish.  Many  a  Gothic  settlement  between  the  Walls  was  destroyed 
in  these  forays.  Smoking  ruins,  pools  of  blood,  disfigured  corpses, 
the  agonized  cries  of  the  wounded,  and  a  troop  of  horse  retreating^ 
Ml  the  distance,  driving  before  them  a  herd  of  cattle  laden  with  young 
women,  boys  and  other  spoil,  told  the  piteous  story.  Indeed  it  was 
the  sight  of  some  Northumbrian  Goths  captured  probably  in  a  sally 
from  one  of  the  several  Roman  towns  which  still  held  out  at  this  pe- 
riod, that  excited  the  pity  of  Pope  Gregory  and  put  him  upon  the 
design  of  introducing  Christianity  into  Gothic  Britain,  These  slaves- 
were  children,  who  about  the  year  580,  were  exposed  for  sale  in  the 
public  mart  of  Rome.  Being  told  they  were  Angles,  Gregory  is  re- 
ported to  have  exclaimed:  "  Non  Angli  sed  Angeli  si  forent  christi- 
ani. "   "If  they  were  Christians  they  would  be  angels,  not  Angles." 

Upon  a  review  of  the  various  evidences  which  relate  to  Britain  from 
the  fourth  to  the  sixth  or  seventh  century,  it  appears  that  the  practical 
sovereignty  of  the  Island  passed,  almost  without  a  struggle,  from  the 
hands  of  the  imperial  government,  or  its  agents,  or  vassals,  into  those 


THE    REPUTED    INVASION    RY    HENGIST    AND    HORSA.  71 

of  a  number  of  petty  Gothic  chieftains,  who  occupied  the  places  of  the 
departed  Romans  and  ruled  in  the  names  of  their  emperors;  that 
some  of  the  Roman  cities  remained  independent  of  either  Gothic  or 
imperial  government  and  continued  to  practise  the  ancient  religion  of 
Rome  until  the  seventh  century;  and  that  the  so-called  Anglo-Saxon 
invasion  is  essentially  mythical/ 

The  account  of  this  invasion  as  given  by  Gildas  says  nothing  about 
the  Anglo-Saxons  and  other  Goths  who  had  inhabited  Caledonia  and! 
Britain  from  the  mostancient  times;  nor  of  the  subdivision  and  feudal 
government  of  Britain;  nor  of  the  Count  of  the  Saxon  shore;  nor  of 
the  insurrections  under  Carausius  and  other  Gothic  chieftains ;  nor  of 
the  Augustan  religion,  which  provoked  them;  nor  of  the  Gothic  con- 
quest or  occupation  of  lestland.  Saxony,  Frisia,  and  Normandy;  nor 
of  Theodosius  Saxonicus ;  nor  whence  he  derived  his  name ;  nor  of  the 
revolt  of  Maximus;  nor,  in  short,  of  any  other  circumstances  which 
modern  research  has  rescued  from  the  ashes  in  which  the  false  chron- 
icles of  the  monks  were  planted.  The  work  attributed  to  Gildas 
contains  102  printed  pages,  of  which  six  are  devoted  to  the  preface, 
seventeen  to  "  history,"  and  seventy-nine  to  rhapsody.  The  preface 
and  rhapsody  do  not  contain  any  information,  true  or  false,  that  is  of 
the  slightest  value.  The  seventeen  pages  of  "history  "  begin  with 
the  introduction  of  the  Sun  into  Britain  during  the  reign  of  Tiberius, 
that  is  to  say,  before  the  island  was  conquered  by  the  Romans.  This 
Sun  is  explained  to  mean  Jesus  Christ.  Then  follows  an  account  of 
the  apocryphal  martyrs  of  St.  Albans  and  Carlisle,  the  first  of  whom 
crossed  the  Thames  dryshod  whilst  the  "waters  stood  abrupt  on 
either  side."  Pursuing  this  feeble  romance  to  a  rapid  termination, 
we  are  informed  that  Gurthrigern,  "  the  British  king,"  a  purely  myth- 
ical creation,  invited  the  Saxons,  "  whom,  when  absent,  they  dreaded 
more  than  death  itself"  (why  absent  and  dreaded,  if  this  was  their 
first  appearance?)  to  come  to  Britain  and  "live,  as  it  were,  under  the 
same  roof."  The  Saxons  came  in  three  vessels,  landed  on  the  east 
coast,  proved  "successful"  against  the  Romans,  and  were  followed 
by  others,  together  with  whom  they  ravaged  and  conquered  the  island. 

Bede  is  more  diffuse.  Britain,  anciently  Albion,  was  peopled  from 
Gaul.    At  some  later  period  the  Picts  from  Scythia^  were  driven  by 

*  Lappenberg,  Kemble,  Wright,  and  many  other  eminent  antiquarians,  concur  in  re- 
garding as  mythical  both  the  alleged  appeal  of  the  Romanized  Britons  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  leaders  and  the  alleged  invasion  by  Hengist  and  Horsa.  They  contend  that  no 
such  events  took  place. 

'  Elsewhere  it  is  shown  that  all  the  coasts  of  northern  Scythia,  that  is  to  say,  of  the 
Baltic,  were  occupied  by  the  Goths. 


72  ANCIKNT     I!  KIT  A  IN. 

Stress  of  weather  to  Ireland,  whose  inhal)itants,  llie  Scots,  advised 
them  to  settle  in  England,  the  northern  part  of  which  they  accord- 
ingly occupied,  taking  with  them  wives  from  Ireland.  Then  follows 
a  brief  mention  of  the  conquests  of  Julius  Caesar  and  Claudius,  an 
apocryphal  introduction  of  Christianity  in  the  reign  of  Marcus  An- 
toninus, by  a  bishop  in  whose  name  we  recognize  a  pagan  priest  that 
liourished  some  two  generations  later;  the  usurpation  of  Carausius;  the 
martyrdom  of  St.  Alban  shortly  after  his  conversion  from  paganism  ; 
the  revolt  of  Maximus,  "a  man  of  valour  and  probity  and  worthy  to 
be  an  emperor,  if  he  had  not  broken  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  he 
had  taken";  the  death  of  Gratian;  the  quarrel  between  Pelagiusand 
Julianus,  two  pagan  priests,  under  the  emperor  Maximus,  in  the  fourth 
century,  who  were  anachronically  deprived  of  their  bishoprics  by  St. 
Augustine,  under  the  emperor  Maurice,  in  the  sixth  century ;  the  usur- 
pations of  Gratianus  Municeps  and  Constantine;  the  sack  of  Rome 
by  Alaric;  the  insurrection  of  the  Scots  and  Picts;  the  petitions  of 
the  "Britons"  to  Roman  Gaul  for  help;  the  arrival  of  a  legion  on 
two  occasions;  its  final  departure;  the  last  despairing  appeal  to 
yEtius;  the  invitation  of  king  Vortigern  to  the  Angles  or  Saxons,  and 
the  dramatic  arrival  of  the  latter  in  "  three  long  ships."  These  "pa- 
gans,"  entering  into  a  league  with  the  Picts,  turned  upon  the  too  con- 
fiding Britons,  (Romans,)  slew  their  priests  before  the  altars,  over- 
turned public  as  well  as  private  edifices,  drove  the  people  into  the 
mountains  or  beyond  the  sea,  and  then  returned  "home  to  their  own 
settlements"  in  triumph.  About  429  two  Christian  bishops,  coming 
over  from  Gaul  with  numerous  limbs  of  saints  and  other  holy  relics, 
were  obstructed  by  demons,  who  raised  a  storm  against  them  in  mid- 
channel.  The  waves  having  been  allayed  with  a  few  drops  of  holy 
water,  and  the  demons  dispersed  by  a  well-directed  prayer,  the  bishops 
landed,  challenged  their  pelagian  adversaries  to  a  public  debate, 
utterly  overwhelmed  them  with  "the  written  testimonies  of  famous 
writers,"  and  commenced  to  work  their  relics.  A  blind  girl  was  re- 
stored to  sight,  a  broken  leg  was  instantly  made  whole,  and  the 
British  army,  led  by  one  of  the  relic-workers,  obtained  a  miraculous 
victory  over  the  pagans.  Eighteen  years  afterwards  similar  miracles 
are  performed.  Then,  lightly  skipping  over  an  interval  of  a  century 
and  a  half,  we  are  conducted  to  the  apostolic  mission  of  that  servant 
of  God  and  of  the  emperor  Maurice,  the  sainted  Augustine. 

Bede  and  Alcuin  both  allude  to  a  writer  called  Gildas,  whose  name 
afterwards  sinks  into  oblivion  until  it  is  revived  by  Geoffry  of  Mon- 
mouth in  the  twelfth  century,  by  which  time  a  book  imputed  to  him 


THE    REPUTED    INVASION     V.Y    HENOIST    AND    HORSA.  73 

had  made  its  appearance.  Judging  from  what  is  imputed  to  Gildas 
by  those  who  cite  him  previous  to  the  twelfth  century,  Mr.  Wright  is 
of  the  opinion  that  originally  "  the  book  was  forged  by  some  Anglo- 
Saxon  or  foreign  priest  of  the  seventh  century."  During  the  five 
centuries  following  this  original  forgery,  the  book  was  frequently 
amplified  and  reforged,  until  it  attained  its  present  form.  "The  whole 
is  a  fable  created  probably  during  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries.  .  .  .  We  have  no  information  relating  to  its  writer 
which  merits  the  slightest  degree  of  credit."  There  are  two  manu- 
scripts extant,  one  of  which  Mr.  Wright  assigns  to  the  early  part  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  the  other  to  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  or 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.^ 

Bede  is  believed  to  have  been  born  in  672  and  to  have  died  in  735. 
He  was  an  honest  and  worthy  monk  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Paul  at 
Yarrow  on  the  Tyne.  He  entered  this  establishment  whilst  still  a 
youth  and  resided  there  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Consider- 
ing the  times  in  which  he  lived  his  works  prove  him  to  have  been  a 
priest  of  more  than  ordinary  culture  and  attainments.  His  sincerity 
cannot  be  doubted,  but  his  information  concerning  the  Anglo-Saxons 
was  three  hundred  years  old,  and — as  the  monuments  incontestibly 
prove — it  was  hopelessly  wrong  and  defective.  His  work,  which  of 
course  is  written  in  Latin,  appears  to  have  been  completed  in  the 
year  731.  The  manuscript  now  in  the  public  library  of  Cambridge  is 
a  transcript  dated  737,  and  with  all  its  imperfections  it  is  the  most 
ancient  and  in  some  senses  valuable  relic  of  British  history  which  has 
reached  us  from  the  Middle  Ages.'' 

With  regard  to  the  tract  imputed  to  Nenniusand  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle,  the  two  works  which  are  chiefly  relied  upon  for  the  details 
of  the  so-called  Anglo-Saxon  invasion  and  the  origin  of  the  heptarch- 
ical  kingdoms,  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  criticize  them.  They 
are  rank  forgeries,  committed  some  seven  centuries  posterior  to  the 
date  of  the  pretended  invasion.  It  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Wright  that 
two  prologues  to  the  tract  of  Nennius  are  spurious  and  not  older  than 
the  twelfth  century.  "  The  book  contains  many  marks  of  having  been 
an  intentional  forgery."  The  oldest  MS.  states  the  year  in  which  it 
was  written  to  be  5th  Edmund  (976),  but  it  is  probably  in  fact  more 
than  a  century  newer.  The  ms. ,  Harl.,  No.  3859,  belongs  probably 
to  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century. 

^Thomas  Wright,  Biographia  Britannica  Literaria,  London,  1842,  8vo. 
^  Mabillon  (Analecta,  i,  398)  points  out  some  alterations  whick  have  been  made  in 
the  MS  of  Bede's  work. 


74  ANCIENT     IIKITAIN. 

Of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  there  are  seven  extant  manuscripts 
whose  narratives  end  respectively  in  A.  D.  977,  looi,  1058,  1066,  1070, 
loSo,  and  1154.  Even  with  regard  to  the  earlier  periods,  no  two  of 
them  agree.  Their  idioms,  handwriting,  dates,  etc.,  prove  them  ta 
be  patched  forgeries  of  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  centuries,  probably 
done  in  Rome  and  wholly  unworthy  of  credit.  To  regard  these  fabu- 
lous chronicles  as  historical  we  must  first  destroy  every  landmark, 
every  edifice,  public  or  private,  and  every  tomb;  we  must  burn  the 
archaeological  remains  of  the  Romans  and  Goths  and  light  the  fires 
with  the  Roman  histories,  the  Itinerary  of  Antonine,  and  the  Notitia 
Imperii;  we  must  ignore  the  Roman  laws  and  religions, fling  into  the 
sea  our  collections  of  Roman  coins,  and  stamp  out  the  Latin  language 
itself. 

It  is  abundantly  evident  that  Britain  was  not  evangelized  as  the 
monks  narrate;  it  is  abundantly  evident  that  it  was  not  conquered 
as  they  narrate;  it  is  abundantly  evident  that  it  was  not  governed  as 
they  narrate.  Odin  or  Woden,  from  whom  they  say  Hengist  and  Horsa 
descended  in  the  fourth  generation,  was  the  Tamil  name  for  Buddha 
and  the  Gothic  name  for  the  Greek  god  Bacchus  or  Mercury, whence 
the  English  Wednesday  and  the  French  Mercredi.".  Hengist  and 
Horsa  are  the  Gothic  words  for  stallion  and  mare.  Upon  this  myth 
of  the  Scythian  desert  and  the  Norse  fjords,  the  medieval  monks  su- 
perimposed other  myths,  which,  coming  from  Hindustan,  Persia,  As- 
syria, Egypt,  Greece  and  Gaul,  gradually  made  their  way  to  the  mark- 
ets of  Alexandria  and  Rome,  whence  with  other  merchandise,  they 
were  diffused  throughout  the  imperial  world.  Myths  upon  myths,  an- 
cient trash  piled  upon  still  more  ancient  trash,  the  rubbish  of  cent- 
uries watered  by  ignorance  and  warmed  by  brutish  zeal,  this  is  what 
has  been  carelessly  accepted  by  the  modern  world  as  the  groundwork 
for  a  history  of  Britain  and  the  construction  of  its  national  policy. 
It  is  time  it  were  brushed  away. 

'"  Tacitus,  who  wrote  nearly  four  centuries  previous  to  the  alleged  Hengist  and  Horsa, 
who  were  "fourth  in  descent  from  Buddha,"  mentions  the  Badu-henna,  or  forest  of 
Buddha,  in  the  Low  Countries.  Annals,  iv,  73. 


75 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

MONUMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION, 

Language,  Religion,  and  law — Barbarian  patches  upon  the  Roman  tongue — Subse- 
quent regrowth  of  classical  Latin — Eclecticism  of  the  Roman  religion  transferred  to 
Christianity — Its  happy  susceptibility  to  change  and  improvement  is  gradually  fitting 
Christianity  for  universal  acceptance — The  Civil  Law,  its  origin  and  history — Written 
and  oral  law — Law  of  the  Commonwealth — Of  the  empire — The  spirit  of  the  law  swept 
away  by  the  hierarchy,  whilst  its  forms  were  retained — Abolition  of  the  Comitia,  or 
House  of  Commons — Imperial  "Constitutions" — ProculiansandPegasians — Eminent 
jurists  of  the  empire — The  age  of  Constantine  and  miracles — Virtual  extinction  of  the 
legal  profession — Compilations  of  Gregorius  and  Hermogenes — Theodosian  Code — 
Visigothic  Code — Code  of  Justinian — The  Digest,  or  Pandects — The  Institutes — 
Alleged  Reform  of  the  Calendar  by  Dionysius  Exiguus — Pretended  loss  of  the  Pandects 
and  its  recovery  at  Amalfi — Reasons  why  it  fell  under  the  ban  of  the  Church — The 
law  of  Britain — Roman  law  of  the  Commonwealth — Anglo-Saxon  Codes — Roman  law 
of  the  Empire — Canon  law — General  influence  of  the  Civil  Law — The  Common  Law. 

WHEN  the  Church  mangled  and  disfigured  the  remains  of  Ro- 
man history,  it  forgot  its  own  doctrine  of  immortality,  it 
stabbed  the  body  in  the  vain  hope  to  destroy  the  spirit.  The  frag- 
ments of  Livy  and  Tacitus  which  it  has  flung  to  posterity  may  suffice 
to  fill  a  child's  catechism,  but  will  never  satisfy  the  requirements  of 
men.  Those  who  would  consult  the  spirit  of  Roman  history  will  not 
search  for  it  in  the  mutilated  pages  spared  by  the  monks,  but  in  the 
silent  ashes  of  Rome's  language,  religion  and  law.  These  institutions 
survived  the  rule  of  both  Caesars  and  popes,  they  e.xist  to  this  day, 
they  shape  our  present  life,  and  are  destined  to  influence  the  affairs 
of  the  world  unto  the  remotest  future.' 

The  barbarian  risings  disfigured  the  Roman  language  with  four  great 
coarse  patches:  the  Gothic,  Slavic,  Hunnish  and  Arabic,  of  which 
only  the  first  two  possess  any  considerable  influence  at  the  present 
day.  The  modern  languages  of  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Britain,  consist  of 
Latin  mingled  with  Gothic,  or  Gaelic,  or  both;  of  Spain,  Latin  with 

^  The  Levitical  code  may  have  been  admirably  adapted  to  the  people  for  whom  it 
was  framed  and  the  time  it  was  promulgated;  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Canon  law, 
indeed  of  all  legal  codes;  but  what  stone  of  which  the  modern  temple  of  Liberty  is 
constructed  bears  any  other  mark  than  that  of  republican  Rome  ? 


76  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

Gothic  and  Arabic;  and  of  Germany,  Latin  with  Gothic  and  Slavic. 
Of  course,  there  are  other  elements  in  these  languages,  but  we  are 
here  speaking  of  the  most  prominent  ones.  The  barbarian  patches, 
once  so  thick  as  to  almost  entirely  conceal  the  Latin  beneath,  are  now 
so  worn  away  that  one  who  speaks  a  Romance  tongue  may  traverse 
more  than  one-half  the  globe  without  fear  of  having  to  deal  with  a 
totally  unfamiliar  language.  Like  the  Gothic  letter,  which,  within  the 
present  generation,  has  been  cast  aside  at  Stockholm  and  Berlin,  like 
the  Gothic  legends  which  we  have  erased  from  palimpsests  for  the 
sake  of  the  more  precious  writings  beneath,  the  Gothic  patches  upon 
the  Roman  language  are  being  gradually  removed,  because  we  have 
discovered  the  superior  value  of  the  language  which  they  deformed. 
This  superiority  does  not  consist  in  mere  sonorousness  or  fluency, 
albeit  these  qualities  have  not  a  little  to  do  with  a  choice  of  lan- 
guages, but  mainly  in  the  greater  precision  of  the  Latin  in  the  ex- 
pression of  thought.  The  language  of  imperial  Rome  was  made  up  of 
several  others,  Indian,  Egyptian,  Grecian,  Etruscan  and  Punic,  each 
of  which  embodied  the  thoughts  of  many  generations  of  men,  and  a 
wide  experience  in  government  and  the  arts. 

The  language  of  the  Romans  was  that  of  a  people  who  had  once  been 
free,  and  who  still  boasted  a  class  of  citizens,  alike  public  spirited, 
ingenious  and  refined.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  Romance 
nations  began  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  dominion  of  Rome, 
and  assume  an  independent  existence,  it  was  natural  that  they  should 
€ach  have  wished  to  sing  in  their  peculiar  tongue  the  joyous  theme 
of  their  emancipation;  but  when  these  nations  found  that  they  had 
to  seek  in  the  remains  of  Rome  for  a  system  of  jurisprudence,  a  lit- 
erature, and  a  knowledge  of  the  arts,  it  was  inevitable  that  they  should 
again  accept  the  Roman  language  and  accept  more  and  more  of  it  as 
time  advanced.  The  Englishman  of  to-day  can  scarcely  read  and  un- 
derstand the  English  of  Chaucer.  The  difference  will  be  found  to  con- 
sist chiefly  in  the  relinquishment  of  Gothic  words  and  phrases  for  Latin 
ones;  and  although  this  Latinization  of  the  Romance  languages  has 
proceeded  with  far  less  rapidity  in  other  countries  than  in  England, 
it  has  made  its  mark  in  all  of  them.  If  the  European  world  ever  has 
a  common  language  again,  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  it  will  notbeVol- 
apuk,  but  Latin, with  perhaps  an  infusion  of  that  one  of  the  several 
Romance  tongues,  which  conquest,  commerce,  or  colonization,  may 
most  widely  disseminate. 

In  other  portions  of  this  work,  the  strange  developement  of  the  Ro- 
man religions  and  their  influence  upon  modern  affairs  is  more  than 


MONUMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION.  77 

once  suggested.  In  the  present  place  it  is  only  necessary  to  recall 
one  striking  characteristic  of  these  religions:  their  capacity  of  devel- 
opement.  We  have  been  taught  that  the  earlier  polytheism  which  Rome 
derived  from  Etruria  and  Greece  and  which  the  Romans  themselves 
ascribed  to  the  institutes  of  Romulus  and  Numa  always  remained  the 
same ;  '^  but  this  is  not  only  the  very  reverse  of  the  truth,  it  is  a  very 
superficial  view  of  the  whole  subject.  Continual  developement  was 
the  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  Roman  mythology.  The  Brah- 
min, the  Buddhist,  the  Egyptian,  the  Hebrew  codes  of  sacred  and 
ceremonial  law,  were  fixed,  and  the  religions  of  those  peoples  re- 
mained unchanged.  The  canons  of  polytheism  were  not  fixed;  and 
the  Roman  religion  changed  with  every  new  discovery  in  astronomy 
and  with  every  important  phase  of  social  and  political  growth. 

The  Roman  republic  was  eclectic;  its  people,  its  laws,  its  mythol- 
ogy, came  from  every  quarter  of  the  earth.  Its  religious  ceremonial  * 
differed  in  every  province,  and  its  people  were  split  up  into  as  many 
different  sects  as  Christendom  is  to-day.  This  is  what  makes  our  mod- 
ern ' '  pantheons  "  so  perplexing ;  they  jumble  together,  without  order, 
the  myths  of  all  the  ages,  and  all  the  provinces,  and  gravely  ask  us 
to  believe  that  this  anachronical  and  ill-assorted  mass  was  the  religion 
of  every  Roman.  As  well  combine  all  the  tenets  of  all  the  sects  of 
Christianity  in  every  age  and  represent  the  lot  to  be  the  creed  of  every 
Christian!  It  was  their  religious  eclecticism  which  above  all  things 
enabled  the  Romans  to  readily  amalgamate  with  other  peoples  and 
which  rendered  practicable  the  enormous  expansion  of  their  empire. 
When  this  religious  freedom  was  curtailed  (for  it  was  not  ended)  by 
the  establishment  of  a  State  religion,  (emperor-worship,)  amalgama- 
tion became  more  difficult  and  territorial  expansion  ceased.  The  sur- 
rounding nations  had  been  one  by  one  conquered  with  the  sword,  but 
they  could  not  be  so  readily  forced  to  accept  a  strange  religion.  To 
the  reaction  against  emperor-worship  and  the  revival  of  that  eclectic- 
ism which  had  always  distinguished  the  religion  of  Rome,  the  Christian 
church  is  largely  indebted  for  its  early  growth.     When,  during  the 

'  Adam's  Roman  Antiquities. 

^  Livy,  in  speaking  of  Care,  a  Punic  city  in  Etruria,  calls  it  Sacrarium  populi  Ro- 
manj.  diversorium.  sacerdotum  ac  receptaculum  sacrorum.  From  the  name  of  this  holy 
place  we  have  the  word  ceremony.  It  also  points  to  some  of  the  immediate  sources 
(Phoenicia  and  Etruria)  of  Rome's  earlier  religious  belief  and  ritual.  During  the  Com- 
monwealth the  religion  of  Rome  was  largely  modified  by  that  of  Greece.  It  was  further 
modified  and  split  into  two  great  divisions,  when,  added  to  the  Greek  theology,  the 
deification  and  worship  of  Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus  were  by  law  made  a  portion  of 
its  creed  and  confession  of  faith. 


yS  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

eleventh  century,  the  Church  felt  strong  enough  to  cast  aside  eclec- 
ticism, it  did  so,  and  the  result  was  that  the  new  religion  ceased  either 
to  grow  or  to  spread.  When  the  fanatic  hands  of  the  clergy  were  re- 
moved from  its  throat  and  the  Reformation  reestablished  the  eclectic- 
ism that  had  contributed  so  powerfully  to  its  original  success,  it  began 
to  grow  and  spread  again.  Liberty  and  Christianity  appear  to  be  com- 
plementary. 

That  portion  of  the  Civil  law  which  the  Romans  acquired  from  Etru- 
ria,  Egypt  and  Greece,  has  long  ceased  to  be  of  interest,  except  to 
a  limited  class  of  antiquarians.  The  ordinary  student  of  history,  the 
lawyer,  the  publicist,  the  philosopher,  begins  his  investigations  into 
Roman  jurisprudence,  with  the  laws  of  the  Republic.  As  the  outcome 
of  a  free  people  and  the  result  of  a  long  and  varied  national  expe- 
rience, these  laws  and  institutes  are  of  the  highest  interest  to  a  grow- 
ing world.  Unfortunately, with  the  exception  of  a  few  statutes  gathered 
from  historical  works,  themselves  in  a  fragmentary  condition,  this  ju- 
risprudence is  all  lost;  it  was  destroyed  partly  in  the  reign  of  the 
Julian  emperors  and  partly  in  that  of  Justinian  and  his  immediate 
successors.  The  basis  of  these  laws  w^as  the  Twelve,  originally  Ten 
Tables,  reduced  to  writing  about  A.  U.  300.  The  scope  of  this  legal 
relic  was  both  political  and  legislative,  it  related  to  freedom,  the  right 
of  assemblage  and  appeal,  the  settlement  of  the  relations  between 
the  patricians  and  plebians,  the  regulation  of  judicial  proceedings, 
and  the  duties  of  magistrates.^  Upon  the  basis  of  the  Twelve  Tables 
was  reared,  first,  the  written,  and  second,  the  oral,  law  of  the  Com- 
monwealth.  Of  these  in  their  order. 

The  written  law  consisted  of  enactments  by  the  comitia  centuriata, 
a  popular  assemblage,  or  House  of  Commons,  summoned  by  patrician 
magistrates.  The  general  legislative  functions  of  this  assemblage  were 
supplemented  in  A.  U.  305  by  the  comitia  tributa,  a  popular  assem- 
blage summoned  by  plebian  magistrates,  (tribunes,)  whose  enactments 
formed  the  second  portion  of  the  law.  As  a  makeweight  for  the  con- 
stitution of  the  new  comitia  conceded  by  the  patricians,  the  plebians 
accepted  the  decrees  of  the  senate,  senatus  consulta,  as  the  third  por- 
tion of  the  Law,  provided  such  decrees  were  not  nullified  or  vetoed 
by  the  tribunes.  Few  general  laws  were  passed  by  either  of  the  (suc- 
cessive) comitias  or  Houses  of  Commons;  their  sessions  were  chiefly 
devoted  to  the  elections  of  the  higher  magistrates,  trials  for  treason, 
and  to  foreign  affairs,  functions  that  toward  the  close  of  the  Com- 

*  See  Twelve  Tables  collected  by  Jacques  Godefroy  and  published  in  Michelet's 
Hist.  Rom.  Rep.,  Appendix,  xxiii. 


MONUMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION.  79 

nionwealth  were  exercised  by  the  senate  before  they  fell  into  the 
hands  of  dictators  and  gods. 

The  oral  law  embraced  the  mores  majorum,  or  digest  of  customs 
relative  to  private  rights,  derived  chiefly  from  ancient  usages  under 
the  Twelve  Tables,  together  with  other  usages  of  the  Commonwealth 
not  expressed  in  the  written  law;  the  code  of  practice,  edictus  per- 
petuse,  which  the  praetors,  or  judges,  were  required  to  adopt  and 
publicly  declare  each  year  at  the  commencement  of  their  judical  func- 
tions, and  which  varied  but  little  from  time  to  time;  and  the  com- 
mentaries, juridical  principlesand  opinions,  contained  in  the  decisions 
of  the  bench,  or  the  treatises  of  eminent  lawyers.* 

Theoretically,  the  various  official  powers  which  Julius  Caesar  and 
Augustus  absorbed  into  the  imperial  and  pontifical  office,  put  an  end 
to  the  entire  system  of  Roman  law;  practically,  the  system  was  re- 
tained, but  perverted.  The  forms  remained,  the  essence  was  absorbed. 
The  imperial  absorption  of  power,  and  its  assumption  of  infallibility, 
rendered  the  processes  of  law  little  more  than  a  mockery;  and  yet 
men  are  sometimes  so  well  contented  with  a  shadow  in  place  of  the 
substance,  that  this  mockery  has  been  kept  up  in  Rome  almost  to  the 
present  day;  for  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  the  Italians  have 
shaken  off  the  chains  of  an  unreal  and  tyrannical  imposture,  to  accept 
the  more  beneficent,  if  less  pretentious,  rule  of  a  flesh-and-blood  sov- 
ereign. Many  writers  have  expressed  the  deepest  regret  that  the 
forensic  literature  of  the  empire  is  lost.  We  can  see  little  to  deplore 
in  the  circumstance.  The  science  of  law  can  gain  nothing  from  perus- 
ing either  the  edicts  of  gods,  or  the  glosses  of  their  parasites  and 
panders.  What  was  valuable  in  the  Roman  law  came  from  the  acts 
of  a  free  people  and  a  free  Commons  and  Senate,  acts  which  were 
afterwards  reflected  in  the  commentaries  of  that  class  of  jurisconsults, 
known  as  Proculians  or  Pegasians,  who,  in  the  faces  of  the  most  ab- 
solute and  bloody  tyrants  that  ever  encumbered  the  earth,  had  the 
astounding  temerity  to  proclaim  and  uphold  the  principles  of  freedom 
and  the  spirit  of  justice.  These  principles  have  survived.  We  have 
them  in  the  precepts  of  Paulus, Gains,  Papian,Ulpian,  and  Modestinus, 
men  who  held  aloft  the  torch  of'legal  science  long  after  it  had  become 
a  criminal  offence  to  question  the  slightest  dictum  of  hierarchical  rule. 

The  establishment  of  the  empire  added  a  new  class  of  materials  to 
the  body  of  the  Roman  law.  As  the  comitia  tributa,  or  second  House 
of  Commons,  declined  and  faded  out  of  sight,  the  senate,  which  had 
become  little  more  than  an  assembly  of  patricians  to  formally  enact - 

'  Also  the  Canon  law  and  Code  of  procedure.     See  Livy,  ix,  46. 


80  ANCIENT    IlRITAIN. 

the  imperial  will,  increased  its  menial  functions.  At  length  the  leges 
and  plebiscita  entirely  ceased,  the  House  of  Commons  expired,  and 
the  decrees  of  a  mock  senate  alone  remained  of  the  ancient  form  of 
legislation.  To  these  decrees  were  subsequently  added  the  imperial 
constitutions,  or  ordinances  of  the  hierarchy,  the  orders  in  council, 
(rescripta,)  and,  in  some  instances,  the  decisions  of  the  praetors  and 
Eediles  and  of  the  provincial  proconsuls  and  propraetors.  These  were 
supplemented  by  the  opinions  of  jurisconsults,  among  whom  the  im- 
perialists were  called  Cassians  or  Sabinians,  the  whole  constituting 
the  body  of  the  law  which  prevailed  during  the  empire.  In  the  reign 
of  Constantine  the  legal  profession  itself  sank  into  oblivion.  Ignorant 
credulity  usurped  the  place  of  reason,  and  pretended  miracles  were 
substituted  for  the  deliberate  judgments  of  the  bench.  Those  silly 
people  who  sigh  for  the  extinction  of  lawyers,  and  who  may  be  inter- 
ested to  learn  how  legal  problems  were  decided  without  them,  will 
find  some  interesting  passages  in  the  pages  of  Socrates,  Sozomen, 
Eusebius,  and  other  ecclesiastical  w-riters. 

It  was  perhaps  with  the  design  to  save  the  crumbling,  though  yet 
vast  edifice  of  the  Civil  law,  from  complete  destruction,  that  the  com- 
pilations which  we  are  about  to  mention,  were  prepared.  At  all  events, 
they  practically  served  that  purpose,  and  although  much  of  the  frame- 
work and  finer  portions  of  the  law  are  lost,  enough  of  the  structure 
was  preserved  to  render  it,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a  potent  fortress  to 
check  the  advances  of  tyranny  and  protect  the  roots  of  free  institu- 
tions from  entire  destruction.  The  position  of  the  law  durmg  the 
early  empire  happens  to  be  better  known  to  us  than  during  any  other 
period,  because  most  of  the  literary  fragments  that  have  reached  us 
belong  to  that  cera.  On  this  account  it  has  received  more  attention 
than  it  really  deserves.  Eminent  pleaders  and  patrons  appeared  be- 
fore the  senate,  to  raise  their  voices  in  behalf  of  accused  persons; 
but  what  reason  or  what  legal  principles  could  hope  to  prevail  against 
the  known  wish  of  the  reigning  hierarch  ?  Eminent  lawyers  wrote 
treatises  which  bravely  asserted  the  legal  principles  of  the  republic; 
but  unhappily  they  were  without  the  slightest  power  to  reanimate 
them.  The  Roman  House  of  Commons  was  overthrown,  the  tribunes 
had  long  since  expiated  with  their  heads  their  crime  of  liberty,  and 
superstition  was  busily  erecting  behind  the  throne  of  the  C^sars  a 
gloomy  scaffold,  upon  which  was  yet  to  be  spilt  the  blood  of  twelve 
centuries  of  freemen. 

During  the  Commonwealth  the  code  of  practice  had  continually  im- 
proved.   To  this  brilliant  period,  and  not  to  the  murky  twilight  of  the 


MONUMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION.  8 1 

ninth  century,  do  we  owe  our  institute  of  Trial  by  Jury.  During  the 
empire,  the  code  of  practice,  which  was  now  no  longer  a  growth,  but 
a  survival,  was  rearranged  by  Salius  Julianus,  approved  by  the  em- 
peror Hadrian,  and  petrified  by  a  Perpetual  edict  of  the  complaisant 
senate.  So  effectually  was  all  developement  of  the  law  arrested  by 
sacred  imperialism,  that  lawyers  no  longer  quoted  the  decisions  or 
dicta  of  the  praetors.  They  preferred  to  depend  on  the  principles 
contained  in  the  works  of  the  old  jurisconsults.  It  was  the  last  effort 
of  reason  to  make  headway  against  the  hierarchy,  and  it  failed.  For 
all  this,  such  is  the  wonderful  tenacity  and  longevity  of  free  institu- 
tions, that  many  of  the  ancient  principles  found  their  way  into  the 
Pandects.  The  race  of  lawyers  had  died  out,  their  profession  was  dis- 
honoured, their  learning  despised,  but  the  eternal  principles  of  justice 
which  they  had  wrought  into  a  code  and  sheltered  from  violence  in 
the  mysterious  jargon  of  their  craft,  was  preserved  for  the  use  of  a 
distant  and  thankless  posterity.  The  latest  of  these  legal  treatises 
are  those  of  the  Proculians,  who  flourished  during  the  interval  from 
the  Antonines  to  Alexander  Severus,  and  whose  names  have  been  al- 
ready mentioned.  Their  legal  principles  do  not  belong  to  their  own 
times,  but  to  the  dead  republic,  whose  dirge  they  sang  and  whose  spirit 
they  embalmed.  From  this  period  to  the  fifth  century  what  little  re- 
mained of  forensic  culture  in  the  Roman  empire  seems  to  have  been 
transferred  to  the  provinces,  for  we  hear  little  of  it  in  Rome.  Early 
in  that  century  two  legal  collections  were  made,  chiefly  of  imperial 
edicts  and  rescripts,  orOrders  in  Council,  from  Hadrian  to  Constantine, 
the  one  by  Gregorius,  the  other  by  Hermogenes,  whose  respective 
names  they  still  bear.  These  compilations  were  supplemented  by  the 
Theodosian  code,  said  to  have  been  published  in  438  by  order  of  the 
emperor  Theodosius  II.,  and  containing  only  the  laws  promulgated 
after  the  revival  of  a  republican  religion,  together  with  some  frag- 
ments of  the  earlier  collections."  Among  these  laws  are  to  be  found 
the  edicts  of  Theodosius  I.,  establishing  and  ordering  the  observance 
of  the  new  religion  throughout  the  empire,  deposing  the  bishops  and 
priests  of  the  old  religion,  condemning  heretics,  in  some  cases  to  the 
punishment  of  death,  altering  the  lex  crimen  majestatis  to  an  In- 
quisition, forbidding  sacrifices,  and  confirming  to  ecclesiastics  many 
judicial  and  municipal  functions  formerly  exercised  by  secular 
magistrates. 

Modern  familiarity  with  the  provisions  of  this  code  has  been  derived 

*  Hallam,  676.     On  the  forgeries  and  corruptions  in  the  Theodosian  Code  consult 
Gibbon,  11,  307;/.  i 


82  ANCIKNT    IJKITAIN. 

chiefly  from  the  Lex  Romana,  or  IJreviarium  Alaricianum,'  compiled 
by  Count  Goiaric,  comes  palatini,  in  the  reign  and  by  the  order  of 
Alaric  II.,  at  Aire  (south-western  France)  in  the  year  504  and  promul- 
gated at  Toulouse  in  506.  The  collection  of  Alaric  contains  the  Theo- 
dosian  code  (sixteen  books);  the  laws  of  the  emperors  Theodosius, 
Yalentinian,  Marcian,  Majorian,  andSeverus;  the  institutes  of  Gaius; 
the  Receptas  Sentential  of  Paulus;  the  Gregorian  code  (thirteen  titles) ; 
the  Hermoginian  code  (two  titles) ;  and  a  passage  from  Papian's  work, 
erroneously  called  the  Liber  Responsorum.  These  laws  and  juridicial 
materials  are  followed  by  the  Interpretations,  which  consist  of  altera- 
tions, adaptations  and  explanations,  inserted  by  the  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  jurisconsults  of  Gaul,  who  were  employed  by  Alaric.  This  code 
clothes  the  Church  with  many  prerogatives  and  powers  formerly  vested 
in  the  civil  magistrates,  as  wills,  wardships,  the  emancipation  of  slaves, 
and  control  over  the  municipal  systems  and  works."  The  Lex  Romana, 
sometimes  alluded  to  as  the  law  of  the  Visigoths,  was  used  throughout 
Gothic  France,  Spain,  and  Lombardy;  in  the  former  countries  until 
the  Saracenic  invasion,  and  in  the  latter,  until  the  fall  of  Desiderius 
and  the  transfer  of  his  dominions  to  the  Papacy. 

In  528,  during  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Justinian,  he  issued,  from 
his  court  at  Constantinople,  a  decree  which  provided  for  the  revision 
and  recodification  of  the  Gregorian,  Hermoginian,  and  Theodosian 
codes.  The  work  was  entrusted  to  a  commission  of  nine  advocates, 
all  of  the  new  faith.  At  the  head  of  this  body  was  Tribonian."  This 
work  was  completed  and  promulgated  at  Constantinople  in  529,  and 
is  now  known  as  the  Codex  Vetus.  It  is  no  longer  extant,  having  been 
superceded,  six  years  later,  by  a  Revised  code,  (Codex  Repetilse  Prse- 
lectionis,)  which  embraced  the  constitutions  of  Justinian  and  the  over- 
flow of,  (or  the  disputed  principles  which  the  compilers  hesitated  to 
incorporate  in,)  the  Digest,  next  to  be  mentioned.  In  530  a  further 
commission,  this  time  composed  of  seventeen  lawyers,  headed  by  Tri- 
bonian,  were  entrusted  with  the  more  arduous  task  of  digesting  the 
whole  body  of  the  law  and  of  reducing  it  to  moderate  proportions. 
This  measure  opened  the  door  to  the  only  gleams  of  freedom  which 
enlighten  the  gloomy  compendium.   The  task  was  commenced  forth- 

'  Guizot  says  the  former  was  the  original  name,  and  that  the  latter  was  not  employed 
tintil  the  sixteenth  century.     Hist.  Civ.,  11,  8.  *  Guizot,  11,  8-11. 

*  Philosopher,  poet,  astronomer,  essayist,  lawyer,  politician,  financier,  courtier,  and 
sycophant.  It  was  Tribonian  who,  in  fulsome  admiration  of  his  imperial  patron,  feared 
that  Justinian,  like  Romulus,  (why  not  also  like  Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus,  Oh  wily 
Tribonian  ?)  would  be  snatched  away  into  the  air  and  translated  alive  to  Heaven! 
Procop.,  Anecd.,  c.  13,  and  Suidas,  in,  501. 


MONUMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION.  83 

with;  the  work  is  said  to  have  been  completed  and  promulgated  at 
Constantinople  in  533. 

The  materials  at  hand  were,  first,  the  Twelve  Tables,  the  acts  of  the 
Commons  and  senate,  the  decrees  and  decisions  of  the  consuls,  prae-  " 
tors,  tribunes,  censors,  and  other  magistrates,  and  the  writings  of  the 
old  republicans,  such  as  Cato.  the  Scasvolas,  Sulpicius,  Marcus  Junius 
Brutus,  (father  of  the  regicide,)  Varrus,  Cicero,  Marcus  Manilius, 
Labeo,  and  others.  No  use  whatever  was  made  of  these  materials; 
they  were  tinctured  with  liberty,  and  were  swept  out  of  sight  at  once, 
never  again  to  be  recovered,  except  in  the  fragmentary  allusions  of 
historians.'"  The  Pandects,  as  they  remain  to-day,  though  they  em- 
body the  wisdom  and  sometimes  the  political  spirit  of  these  ancient 
authorities,  have  refused  to  transmit  the  language  of  these  authorities 
to  posterity.  The  Pandects  embrace  such  of  the  principles  and  com- 
mentaries of  the  later  (imperial,)  jurisconsults, as  the  compilers  agreed 
between  themselves,  or  separately  ventured,  to  introduce  into  the 
work.  Some  of  these  are  given  entire,  others  are  mutilated  or  assigned 
to  a  false  author  or  period,  sometimes  to  borrow  authority  for  a  corrupt 
•opinion,  sometimes  with  apparently  no  worse  motive  than  to  secure 
their  preservation.  These  literary  infidelities,  or  forgeries,  appear 
upon  comparing  the  Pandects  with  the  Code  and  with  the  treatises 
recovered  in  recent  years  from  palimpsests. 

Substantially  the  work  is  a  Digest  of  Roman  law  during  the  empire, 
from  Hadrian  to  Alexander  Severus,  and  that  only  in  a  restricted 
■sense,  for  most  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  Julian  or  Augustan  and  to 
the  more  ancient  religions,  are  carefully  suppressed.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  limited  scope,  many  principles  and  allusions  were  unwittingly 
allowed  to  remain,  whose  roots  reached  back  to  a  purer  age  than  that 
•of  Julianism.  This,  indeed,  is  what  afterwards  brought  it  under  the 
ban  of  the  Church.  The  Digest  was  prepared  in  the  interests  of  the 
New  Religion  and  by  members  of  the  new  communion,  and  it  was 
intended  to  supercede  the  laws  and  principles  which  had  grown  up 
with  imperial  paganism,  so  that  the  latter  might  be  utterly  destroyed 
and  forgotten.  But  the  establishment  of  a  new  religion,  if  coupled 
with  the  destruction  of  an  old  one,  are  not  such  easy  matters  as  we 
have  been  taught  to  believe.  Temples  may  be  overthrown,  sepulchres 
violated,  testaments  burned,  epistles  forged,  ceremonies  misappro- 
priated, or  symbols  perverted,  but  behind  all  these  are  the  laws  of 
persons  and  property,  the  customs  of  the  people,  the  idioms  of  lan- 

"^  They  had  previously  been  "  cleared  away  by  the  axe  of  imperial  mandates  and 
■constitutions,"  says  the  gloomy  Tertullian.     ApoL,  iv,  50.     Gibbon,  iv,  361. 


84  ANCIKNT    HRITAIN. 

guage,  the  nummulary  system,  and  other  monuments  of  the  past,  which 
neither  religious  hatred  can  alter,  nor  religious  zeal  destroy.  The 
works  of  Justinian  reveal  many  of  these  monuments.  They  unwittingly 
conserve  much  of  that  ancient  spirit  which  they  were  expressly  de- 
signed to  efface."  They  disclose  the  age  when  the  Levitical  law  was 
first  studied  at  Rome,'^  and  they  prove  that  slavery,  polygamy,  the 
exposure  of  children,  and  many  other  forms  of  wickedness  and  crime, 
which  modern  Christianity  has  condemned  and  eradicated,  were  legal- 
ized and  permitted  at  a  time,  when,  if  the  accepted  story  of  its  origin 
were  true,  the  Christian  religion  had  but  recently  issued  fresh  and  full 
of  vigor  from  the  portals  of  Divine  Authority.  Between  534  and  565 
the  Pandects  were  frequently  altered  by  new  edicts,  novelise,  which 
have  since  been  admitted  into  the  body  of  that  compilation.  Some 
of  these  disclose  the  venality  of  the  emperor,  while  others  mark  the 
avidity  of  the  church.'' 

The  Institutes  are  modelled  on  those  of  Caius,  or  Gaius,  an  eminent 
jurisconsult  under  the  Antonines,  nearly  the  whole  of  whose  priceless 
work  has  been  within  recent  years  recovered  from  a  palimpsest  of  the 
monk  Lactantius.  The  plan  of  the  Institutes  embraces  the  general 
principles  of  law  concerning  Persons,  Things,  Actions,  Private  Wrongs, 
Public  Wrongs,  and  Crimes;  and  it  was  inevitable  that  within  this 
generous  scope  much  was  included  that  failed  to  harmonize  with  either 
the  politics,  the  church,  the  interests,  or  the  moral  code,  which  Justin- 
ian practiced  or  professed,  and  between  which  he  continually  vacil- 
lated.'^ The  Institutes  are  said  to  have  been  promulgated  at  Con- 
stantinople the  same  year  as  the  Pandects,  so  that  the  three  great  legal 

''  "  The  laudable  desire  of  conciliating  ancient  names  with  recent  institutions  de- 
stroyed the  harmony  and  swelled  the  magnitude  of  the  obscure  and  irregular  system." 
Gibbon,  iv,  415. 

^'^  The  Levitical  laws  were  certainly  known  in  Rome  during  the  reign  of  Hadrian, 
for  Juvenal,  writing  at  that  period,  describes  some  of  them  with  minuteness:  "  Quidam 
sortite  metuentem  Sabbata  patrem,  nil  prceter  nubes,  et  coeli  numen  ador^nt,  nee  distare 
putant  humana  carne  suillam,  qua  pater  abstinuit,  mox  et  praeputia  ponunt,  Romanas 
autem  soliti  contemnere  leges,  Judaicum  ediscunt,  et  servant  ac  metuunt  jus,  tradidit 
arcano  quodcunque  volumine  JMoses:  non  monstrare  vias,  eadem  nisi  sacra  colenti, 
qusesitum  ad  fontem  solos  deducere  verpos.  Sed  pater  in  causa  cui  septima  quneque 
fuitluxignava,  et  partem  vitse  non  attigitullum."  Sat.  xiv,  96.  But  there  is  no  evidence 
of  the  adoption  of  any  of  them  until  the  reigns  of  Constantine,  Theodosius,  and  Jus- 
tinian, when  their  heavier  punishments  were  employed  to  check  adultery,  sodomy,  and 
other  crimes  of  kindred  nature. 

'^  Forged  bequests  to  the  church,  dated  thirty  or  forty  years  back,  were  legalized  by 
a  retrospective  edict,  novella,  which  extended  the  claims  of  the  church  to  the  term  of 
a  century.  After  serving  its  fraudulent  purpose,  this  law  was  repealed.  Procopius, 
Anecdot.,  c.  28.  '*  Gibbon,  iv,  380,  n. 


MONUMENTS    OK    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION.  85 

monuments  ascribed  to  this  reign  all  saw  the  light  within  the  six  years, 

528-33- 

Like  Julius  who  employed  Sosigenes,  and  Augustus  who  retained 
Manilius,  to  regulate  the  calendar,  so  Justinian  is  said  to  have  secured 
the  services  of  Dionysius  Exiguus,  to  abolish  the  Julian  aera,  to  cal- 
culate and  promulgate  the  sera  of  Christ,  and  to  utilize  the  ceremo- 
nials and  fit  the  calendar  of  the  new  religion  to  the  festivals  already 
consecrated  by  immemorial  custom.  If  this  account  can  be  relied  upon 
the  labours  of  this  ingenious  monk  mark  the  fact  that  both  of  Jus- 
tinian's reforms,  those  of  the  Law  and  of  the  Calendar,  were  under- 
taken at  the  same  time,  and  with  apparently  the  same  motive,  to  blot 
•out  and  efface  all  knowledge  and  memory  of  the  sinful  religion  with 
which  Rome  daily  insulted  the  majesty  of  the  Creator  and  to  substi- 
tute in  its  place  the  purer  worship  of  Christ.  The  reforms  proposed 
by  Dionysius  are  ascribed  to  the  year  525,  but  even  if  invented  at 
that  period,  which  is  by  no  means  certain,  they  probably  had  no  practi- 
cal efficacyin  Constantinople  nor  in  Rome  until  a  much  later  period. 

All  the  legal  collaborations  of  Justinian,  known  collectively  as  the 
Corpus  Juris  Civilis,  were  prepared  originally  in  Latin  and  afterwards 
translated  into  Greek.  If  the  narrative  handed  down  to  us  is  true 
they  were  promulgated  in  Rome  when  the  arms  of  Belisarius  restored 
Italy  to  the  empire.'^  It  is  alleged  that  before  this  time  many  of  the 
so-called  barbarian  (but  really  provincial  or  Romance)  systems  of  law 
were  constructed,  and  evidently  to  some  extent  upon  the  basis  of  the 
Twelve  Tables  and  the  Theodosian  code.  The  Lex  Romana  ascribed 
to  Alaric  II.  has  been  already  mentioned,  but  it  is  claimed  that  pre- 
vious to  this,  about  A.  D.  500,  Theodoric,  his  predecessor  on  the 
Ostrogothic  throne,  had  promulgated  a  code  of  laws  based  on  that 
of  Theodosius.  It  is  also  said  that  about  the  same  date  Clovis  ro- 
manized  the  laws  of  the  Salic  Franks  and  that  about  517  Sigismund, 
feudal  king  of  Burgundy,  promulgated  a  code  of  laws  drawn  from 
similar  sources.  The  code  of  the  Ripuarian  Franks  and  of  the  Ba- 
varians ascribed  to  Dagobert  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  code  attributed 
to  Ethelbert,  were  probably  compiled  originally  during  or  else  after 
the  seventh  century.  They  all  bespeak  the  study  of  the  Theodosian 
code,  and,  like  that  compendium,  they  mark,  if  genuine,  the  date  on 
or  near  which  the  new  religion  was  first  introduced  into  the  several 
countries  to  which  they  relate.     Nor  was  what  may  be  termed  the 

•'  According  to  the  mutilated  text  of  Procopius  and  the  calculations  of  Father  Pagi, 
this  was  in  536,  but  the  date  is  only  to  be  received  provisionally.  It  does  not  say  much 
for  the  enterprise  of  our  college  presses,  that  the  Civil  Law  has  never  been  published 
in  the  vernacular. 


86  AN'CIENT    BRITAIN 

Theodosian  phase  of  religion  without  its  legal  celebrities,  for  example, 
Auvergnat  Andarcliius,  in  the  sixth,  and  St.  Bonetvand  Bishop  Didies- 
of  Cahors,  in  the  seventh  century. 

The  story  of  the  loss  and  providential  discovery  of  the  Pandects 
at  Amalfi  in  1135  is  a  fable.  "^  They  were  never  lost  and  never  found. 
When  the  legislation  of  Justinian  was  substituted  for  that  of  Theo- 
dosius,  copies  of  the  Pandects  were,  in  like  manner,  sent  to  all  the 
provinces.  The  evidence  of  this  fact  will  be  found  in  the  altered 
structure  of  the  so-called  barbarian  codes.  The  Arabian  Mahomet, 
the  Prankish  Charlemagne,  the  Anglo-Saxon  Alfred,  and  the  Spanish 
Alfonso,  were  all  familiar  either  with  the  Pandects  or  else  the  Civil 
Law  from  which  it  was  drawn;  and,  both  at  Damascus,  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  York  and  Leon,  schools  existed  where  its  study  was  pursued. 
The  forms  of  the  Parisian  monk  Marculfus,  seventh  century,  the 
studies  of  Hincmar,  ninth  century,  and  the  laws  of  Sancho  IV.,  of 
Aragon,"  all  denote  familiarity  with  the  Civil  Law.  In  11 17  the  Pan- 
dects were  expounded  at  Chartres  by  a  Christian  bishop,  whose  Gothic 
name  of  Ivan,  betrays  the  reason  of  his  fidelity  to  a  Ghibelline  em- 
peror. The  Pandects  were  taught  at  Constantinople  early  in  the 
twelfth  century;  at  Bologna  before  11 18  by  Irnerius;  at  Canterbury 
in  1138  by  Theobald  of  Normandy;  at  Oxford  in  1147  by  Vicarius 
of  Bologna;  and  at  Montpelier  during  the  same  century  by  Placentius. 
It  was  only  after  ecclesiastical  Rome  had  succeeded  in  placing  her 
foot  upon  the  neck  of  the  German  emperor,  that  her  priests  could  not 
find  the  Pandects;  and  the  reason  of  this  was  that  its  pages,  though 
they  had  been  prepared  under  the  sanction  of  a  so-called  Christian 
emperor,  did  not  sustain  her  ambitious  and  growing  pretensions. 
Then  it  was  that  the  study  of  the  Civil  Law  was  suppressed  by  intol- 
erance and  supplanted  by  new  forgeries  and  impostures.'® 

The  medieval  church  of  Rome  cursed  the  law,  reviled  it,  and  spat 
upon  it;  she  excommunicated  those  who  presumed  to  study  it,  and 
would  have  destroyed  it,  as  she  had  destroyed  thousands  of  other 
monuments  and  records  of  antiquity.'*    Wherever  and  whenever  the 

*®  This  fable,  accepted  by  Blackstone,  Robertson,  Henry,  and  numerous  other  au- 
thors, disappeared  from  history  after  it  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  under  the  merciless 
scrutiny  of  Gibbon.  "  Calcott's  Spain,  i,  287. 

'^  The  study  of  the  Civil  Law  in  the  universities  of  Paris  and  Oxford  was  prohibited 
by  the  Popes.     Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  677. 

'^  The  same  Gregory  who  is  said  to  have  introduced  Christianity  into  Britain  had 
burned  the  library  of  the  Palatine  which  had  been  founded  by  Augustus;  had  forbidden 
the  study  of  the  Roman  anthors,  particularly  of  Livy;  had  destroyed  manuscripts, 
mutilated  inscriptions  and  statues;  had  defaced  temples  and  endeavoured  to  destroy 
all  the  evidences  of  Roman  civilization  and  religion.     Draper,  chap.  xii. 


MONUMENTS    OF    ROMAN    CIVILIZATION.  87 

imperial  authority  prevailed,  will  the  Civil  Law  be  found,  and  wherever 
and  whenever  the  papal  authority  prevailed,  the  Civil  Law  was  either 
lost,  or  rendered  difficult  of  access.  But  all  in  vain.  "  No  power  was 
ever  based  on  foundations  so  sure  and  deep  as  those  which  Rome 
laid.  *  *  *  It  was  imperishable  because  it  was  universal.  *  *  *  When 
her  military  power  departed,  her  sway  over  the  world  of  thought  be- 
gan *  *  *  and  her  language,  her  theology,  her  laws,  her  architecture, 
made  their  way  where  the  eagles  of  war  had  never  flown."  ^° 

The  Roman  law  of  Britain  was  derived  originally  from  those  purer 
streams  which  were  afterwards  filled  up  with  the  coarse  materials  of 
Justinian's  edifice.  We  may  believe  that  the  law  school  of  York,  in 
the  fourth  century,  drew  its  inspiration  from  the  jurisconsults  of  the 
Commonwealth  and  the  early  empire,  and  from  the  works  of  Labeo 
rather  than  those  of  Capito.  In  the  earlier  courts  of  the  heptarchy 
both  the  study  and  the  practice  of  the  Roman  law  was  suspended; 
with  the  introduction  of  the  new  religion  it  was  revived;  except  that 
for  the  works  of  the  old  masters  were  substituted  those  of  Theodo- 
sius  and  Justinian.  When  in  the  ninth  century  the  ecclesiastical  es- 
tablishment of  Rome  attempted  to  throw  off  all  allegiance  to  the 
empire,  whether  Eastern  or  Western,  it  began  to  create  its  own  sys- 
tem of  jurisprudence,  the  basis  of  which  was  the  Roman  law,^'  the 
forged  charter  of  St.  Peter,  the  municipa'/  powers  granted  by  the  em- 
perors, the  decrees  of  its  own  Councils,  and  the  ordinances  of  its  own 
bishops."  The  ecclesiastical  system  beginning  with  the  ninth  century 
is  what  Hallam  called  "the  canon  law,  fabricated  only  for  an  usur- 
pation that  can  never  be  restored."  "  It  was  frequently  recompiled 
before  it  was  arranged  in  imitation  of  the  Pandects,  a  task  which  was 
performed  by  the  Italian  monk  Gratian,  in  1140;  it  must  therefore 
have  assumed  the  form  of  a  complete  system  at  a  much  earlier  date, 
probably  at  the  close  of  the  Carlovingian  ^ra.  By  the  twelfth  century 
the  extravagant  claims  of  the  papacy,  which,  as  though  doubtful  of 
its  reward  in  heaven,  claimed  everythinging  in  sight  on  earth,  drove 
society  to  seek  refuge  in  the  less  exacting  code  of  Justinian,  and  we 

2"  Bryce,  p.  370. 

*'  That  there  was  an  ancient  canon  Law  is  evinced  by  the  fact,  mentioned  in  Livy, 
IX,  46,  that  until  A.  U.  449  the  Sacred  college  kept  secret  the  Code  of  Procedure  in 
civil  cases,  and  thus  held  that  control  over  the  administration  of  the  Civil  law  which  it 
tried  to  obtain  in  everything.  Under  the  hierarchy  the  canon  Law  again  became  the 
controlling  law  of  Rome. 

"^"^  Every  Roman  bishop,  whether  pagan  or  Christian,  was  a  pope,  a  title  that  was  not 
limited  to  the  chief  bishop,  or  pontiff,  of  Rome,  until  1037,  by  decretal  of  Gregory. 

"  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  67S. 


88  ANCIKNT     liKriAIN. 

find  that  lliis  was  studied  at  Aragon  and  Chartres  beforu  it  was  "  dis- 
covered "  at  Amalfi. 

Tiiese  circumstances, coupled  with  others  alluded  to  elsewhere  in  this 
work,  enable  us  to  arrive  at  more  or  less  certain  inferences  with  regard 
to  the  influence  ofthe  Roman  law  in  IJritain.  They  leave  us  to  infer 
that  the  law  of  all  IJritain  down  to  the  fourth  century  was  substantially 
the  law  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth,  that  is  to  say  of  Rome  before 
feudalism  had  settled  into  a  matured  system;  '^^  that  this  also  con- 
tinued to  be  the  law  of  those  isolated  cities  of  Britain  which  preserved 
their  Roman  government  after  the  Gothic  risings;  that  although  at- 
tempts were  made  by  Alfred,  Edgar,  and  Edward  Confessor,  to  amal- 
gamate the  Mercian,  Danish  and  West  Saxon  codes  into  one  common 
law,  all  these  attempts  failed;  and  that  in  Britain  generally — if  such 
an  expression  is  admissable  where  there  was  no  sole  monarchy,  and, 
certainly  so  far  as  Wessex  is  concerned,  no  entirely  independent  one — 
in  Britain  generally,  the  Gothic  codes,  largely  modified  by  feudal  and 
local  customs  and  increasingly  modified  by  such  provisions  of  the 
Theodosian  and  Justinian  codes  as  the  pontificate  permitted  to  be  in- 
troduced, was  the  law  of  the  land  ;  that  between  the  ninth  and  twelfh 
century  the  Roman  law,  which  at  this  period  largely  assumed  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  purely  ecclesiastical  code,  entirely  usurped  the  place 
of  the  early  Romance  codes;  and  that  in  the  thirteenth  century  the 
more  secular  phases  of  the  Roman  law  again  came  in  to  displace  the 
canon  law  and  constitute  that  common  law  of  England,  which,  to-day, 
freed  more  and  more  from  its  feudal  and  canonical  corruptions,  forms 
one  of  the  glories  of  the  British  constitution." 

^*  In  the  author's  "  Middle  Ages  Revisited  "  evidences  are  adduced  from  Josephus 
concerning  the  existence  of  feudalism  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  Empire. 

-^  "Although  the  vestiges  of  the  Colisseum  and  of  the  Vatican  shall  crumble  away 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  the  institutions,  the  laws,  and  the  fortunes  of  Rome,  will  not 
have  ceased  to  be  inseparably  interwoven  with  the  destinies  of  mankind."  Sir  F.  Pal- 
grave,  p.  317.  "The  ruins  of  ancient  Rome  supplied  the  materials  of  a  new  city;  and 
the  fragments  of  her  law,  which  have  already  been  wrought  into  the  recent  codes  of 
France  and  Prussia,  will  probably,  under  other  names,  guide  far  distant  generations 
by  the  sagacity  of  Modestinus  and  Ulpian."     Ilallam,  678. 


89 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  ROMAN  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 


Developement  of  political  liberty — Caste — Councils — Legislatures — The  Commons 
of  the  Curiata  was  based  upon  rank — The  Centuriata  upon  wealth — The  Tributa  upon 
respectability — These  legislatures  were  successively  destroyed  by  ecclesiasticism,  and 
all  knowledge  of  them  was  lost  until  after  the  Fall  of  the  Sacred  empire  in  1204 — That 
event  was  immediately  followed  by  the  resuscitation  of  the  Commons — The  English 
House  of  Commons  is  the  direct  offspring  of  the  Roman  Comitia  and  has  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  barbarian  Witenagemote, 

THE  same  false  lightswhich  have  led  the  modern  historian  to  search 
for  the  germs  of  feudalism  in  the  simple  structures  of  barbarian 
communities,  have  misled  him  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  This  has  been  traced  to  thewitenagemotesof  the  North- 
ern chieftains.  We  shall  endeavour  to  show  that  such  an  opinion  is 
without  foundation. 

The  essential  principle  of  a  House  of  Commons  is  happily  expressed 
in  its  name.  It  is  a  peaceful  assemblage  of  the  common  people,  a  term 
that  implies  a  limited  or  representative  body,  that  is  to  say, as  many 
of  the  common  people  as  can  be  conveniently  assembled  in  a  house, 
or  some  other  enclosure.  There  is  still  another  implication  which  may 
fairly  be  deduced  from  the  term  House  of  Commons,  namely,  the  co- 
existence and  coordination  of  another  house,  not  a  House  of  Com- 
mons. This  could  only  be  a  house  of  nobles,  or  priests;  in  other 
words,  a  senate.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  no  instance  in  history 
of  a  House  of  Commons  without  a  senate.  And  the  reason  of  this  is 
evident.  Political  liberty  is  not  born  with  communal  life,  but  is  the 
fruit  of  its  evolution.  The  day  that  men  commenced  to  live  together, 
gave  birth,  not  to  freedom,  but  to  slavery.  It  was  only  after  they  had 
lived  together  some  thousands  of  years  that  they  became  so  much 
alike,  in  fortune,  endowments,  capacity  and  opportunities,  as  to  ren- 
der political  liberty  possible.  One  of  the  necessary  steps  from  des- 
potism and  slavery,  to  equality  and  freedom,  is  a  legislature;  and  if 
these  views  be  admitted,  it  follows  that,  in  the  early  stages  of  its  de- 
velopment, the  legislature,  originating  in  a  council,  must  be  an  as- 


90  ANCIENT    liRITAIK. 

semblage  of  nobles,  or  of  men  belonging  to  some  superior  order. 
Consequently,  when  in  course  of  time  a  legislature  is  formed  by  the 
people,  it  finds  itself  in  the  presence  of  a  pre-existing  legislature, 
which  was  formed  by  the  nobles.' 

The  legislatures  of  all  the  earlier  states  of  antiquity  were  assem- 
blages of  priests  and  nobles,  never  of  the  common  people,  until  such 
assemblages  were  formed  in  Greece  and  Rome.  Leaving  Greece  out 
of  view,  because  it  was  absorbed  into  the  Roman  republic,  of  which 
it  became  part,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  until  comparatively  re- 
cent times,  if  one  ventured  beyond  the  confines  of  Roman  civilization, 
he  would  have  had  to  explain  who  the  commons  were,  and  what  it  was 
which  enabled  them  to  assemble  and  legislate.  Even  at  the  present 
day,  with  the  anomalous  and  quite  recent  exception  of  Japan,  there 
is  no  state,  not  erected  upon  the  remains  of  Roman  institutes,  which 
possesses  a  House  of  Commons,or  a  popular  assemblage  with  legisla- 
tive power.  In  Russia,  the  foremost  of  them  all,  after  some  two 
thousand  years  of  communal  existence,  a  thousand  of  which  have  been 
enriched  by  the  teachings  of  the  gospels,  there  is  only  a  Senate,  which 
is  an  assemblage  of  nobles  and  prelates.  There  is  no  House  of  Com- 
mons; no  general  convocation  of  the  people  to  make  laws  for  the  em- 
pire; no  self  government.  The  sun  of  liberty  has  never  dawned  for 
the  moujik.  His  political  world  is  surrounded  by  a  firmament  of  im- 
penetrable darkness,  illumined  only  by  the  lurid  firebrands  of  nihilism, 
and  the  deceptive  smirk  of  his  gilded  icons. 

Nor  is  a  Senate  the  first  step  of  those  institutes  which  ascend  from 
despotism  to  liberty;  there  are  many  previous  ones.  Among  these  is 
the  Council,  the  essential  difference  between  which  and  a  Senate  be- 
ing that  the  latter  has  legislative  power,  whilst  the  Council  has  not. 

'  In  the  northern  Arcadia,  depicted  by  Tacitus,  the  whole  people,  nobles  as  well  as 
commons,  all  of  them  armed  to  the  teeth  and  provided  with  seats,  came  together  at  in- 
tervals to  enact  measures  offered  by  the  king  and  approved  by  the  priests.  (Germania, 
xi-xii.)  From  this  fanciful  text  the  exuberant  Brottier  derives  the  Merovingian  champs 
de  Mars,  the  Carlovingian  champs  de  Mai,  and  finally  the  states-general.  Mallet,  12S, 
found  the  remains  of  several  of  these  German  houses  of  commons,  which  proved  to  be 
neither  German,  nor  houses,  nor  common.  One  was  near  Lunden,  in  Scania,  (southern 
Sweden,)  a  second  at  Leyra,  or  Lethra,  in  Zealand,  and  a  third  near  Viburg,  in  Jutland. 
They  each  consisted  of  thirteen  stone  seats,  twelve  in  a  circle,  the  thirteenth  in  the  middle ; 
the  former  for  the  council,  the  latter  for  the  king.  This  assemblage  (as  we  read)  was 
guarded  by  soldiers,  who  performed  the  part  of  a  claque  to  the  drama  going  on  within. 
Beyond  the  soldiers  stood  the  unarmed  populace.  The  numbers  of  this  council  proclaim 
its  Buddhic  foundation.  It  had  remotely  the  same  origin  as  the  campus  martius,  the  comi- 
tia,the  twelve  jurymen  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth,  the  champs  de  Mars, and  the  states- 
general;  but  it  was  immediately  neither  the  origin  nor  the  offspring  of  these  institutes. 


THE  ROMAN  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 


9r 


Many  of  the  roving  tribes  whom  the  Europeans  found  in  America  had 
pow-wows,  or  councils.  These  assemblages  consisted  of  sachems  and 
wizards  (medicine-men)  whose  collective  function  it  was  to  counsel 
or  advise  the  Chief.  The  peculiar  phases  which  such  a  body  might 
assume,  in  the  long  process  of  evolution  from  a  tribal  council  to  a 
legislature,  and  the  local  form  and  colour,  which  it  might  derive  from 
the  peculiar  civilization  with  whose  affairs  it  was  concerned,  might 
conceal  the  process  of  metamorphosis;  but  it  could  not  destroy  the 
essential  difference  between  two  such  bodies,  when  viewed  historic- 
ally. It  is  not  known  that  any  of  the  American  tribal  councils  ever 
acquired  power  to  make  laws  which  commanded  the  obedience  of  their 
tribes.  Neither  is  it  believed  that  any  of  the  European  tribal  witen- 
agemotes  became  legislatures.  They  were  simply  what  their  name 
expressed.  Gemote  is  an  assemblage;  witaisa  wit, or  wizard.  Awiten- 
agemote  was  therefore  simply,  what  with  reference  to  the  Indians  was 
called,  a  pow-wow,  a  council  of  medicine-men  and  sachems,  to  advise 
the  Chief;  nothing  more.* 

To  claim  for  such  a  rudimentary  convocation  the  varied  and  unlim- 
ited powers,  the  experience,  deliberation,  self-restraint,  decorum, 
gravity,  and  dignity,  of  a  Senate,  or  still  more  daringly,  to  claim  for 
it  identity  with  an  assemblage  of  the  Commons,  in  which  a  whole 
people,  either  in  person  or  by  representatives,  meet  to  impose  laws 
upon  themselves  and  thus  exercise  a  fuction  out  of  whose  majestic 
attributes,  man,  in  the  archaic  ages,  fashioned  a  Brahma,  a  Buddha, 
or  a  Moses — is  to  ignore  the  slow  genesis  of  all  social  institutes,  and 
leave  out  of  view  the  entire  history  of  Roman  civilization.  Between 
the  tribal  councils  of  the  Saxons  and  the  English  House  of  Commons 
there  is  essentially  less  than  a  single  lifetime,  whilst  there  are  no  less 
than  fifteen  centuries  of  historical  evolution;  and  the  history  cannot 
be  crowded  into  the  time.  Neither  is  there  any  gradual, or  natural  mer- 
ger. About  the  time  of  Alfred,  the  councils  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  chief- 
tains became  councils  of  petty  kings,  and  in  the  reign  of  William  they 
became  the  single  council  of  a  "sole  monarch;"  '  but  while  these 
changes  bespeak  an  evolution  of  the  kingly  power,  they  indicate  no 
alteration  in  the  nature  of  the  council.  It  was  still  fundamentally 
what  it  had  been  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  witenagemote,  an  assem- 
blage of  wizards  and  warriors,  or  of  prelates  and  nobles,  to  advise 

^  Pow-wow  is  an  English,  not  an  Indian  term.  It  was  originally  applied,  in  derision, 
to  the  jargon  and  strange  rites  of  the  medicine-men,  and  afterwards,  by  metonym,  to  the 
assemblagesin  which  they  took  part.  Inpoint  of  fact,  the  Indian  councils  were  not  noisy. 

^  Lord  Coke,  in  referring  to  the  "parliament  "  of  Edward  Confessor,  1041,  meant  by 
that  name,  a  council,  not  a  legislature. 


^2  ANCIENT    I5RITA1N. 

the  chieftain,  now  the  king.  It  had  no  legislati\'<?  power,  not  even 
over  the  classes  from  which  it  was  recruited."  The  great  mass  of  the 
people  had  no  concern  with  it,  indeed  under  the  Norman  dynasty 
there  was  no  people.  Roman  ecclesiasticism  had  long  since  destroyed 
their  political  existence.  There  were  no  representatives  of  the  people. 
There  was  a  subjugated  nation,  not  the  victims  of  a  military  con- 
quest, but  the  nameless  ^  slaves  of  an  insidious  hierarchy.  This  nation 
was  deeply  imbued  with  the  germs  of  religious  and  political  liberty; 
but  until  after  the  Fall  of  Constantinople  these  germs  rarely  saw  the 
light,  and  the  English  peasant  of  that  period  had  little  more  practi- 
cal acquaintance  with  political  liberty,  than  the  Russian  moujik  of 
to-day.  In  the  numerous  allusions  to  the  Royal  Council  which  oc- 
cur in  the  pages  of  Matthew  Paris,  whose  annals  bring  us  down  to 
the  year  1259,  it  is  always  called  the  King's  Council  or  the  Curia 
Regis,  or  the  King's  Parliament,  and  is  invariably  described  as  an  ad- 
A'isory  board,  never  as  a  legislature." 

The  secular  spirit  of  the  Gothic  race,  though  subdued  by  Roman 
witchery,  was  not  destroyed.  In  every  Saxon  and  Norman  breast  there 
lurked  an  undying  hatred  to  hierarchy.  In  the  earlier  Roman  litera- 
ture, many  vestiges  of  which  reached  the  hands  of  the  Norman  nobles 
of  this  period,  every  page  breathed  the  spirit  of  the  old  republican 
liberty.  When  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Sacred  empire  subsided,  the 
ancient  Ark  of  Liberty  drifted  into  view  and  sent  forth  its  Dove  and 
its  olive  branches  of  "  peace  on  earth  and  good-will  to  men."  These 
tokens  of  amity  and  political  liberty  were  found,  not  in  the  miraculous 
Aurea  Legenda,  but  in  the  pages  of  the  Roman  historians  and  the 

■*  It  was  the  same  in  the  other  Roman  provinces.  Alcubilla  claims  a  cortes  for  Leon, 
Avith  "the  popular  element,"  in  1021.  Diccionariodela  Administracion  Espanola.porD. 
]\Iarcelo  Martinez  Alcubilla,  Madrid,  1 886, art."  Cortes."  But  this  was  a  mere  council  of 
nobles  and  prelates  to  advise  the  king.  It  is  mentioned  by  Hallam,  (250,)  who  says  that 
in  its  presence  "Alfonso  V.  established  the  privileges  of  that  city."  If  the  king  did  his 
"will,  it  was  no  cortes  in  the  modern  sense,  but  only  a  council;  a  fact  clearly  admitted 
hy  Hallam,  259.  The  "  deputies  of  cities"  are  mentioned  in  the  cortes  of  1188,  (first 
year  of  AlfonsoIX.  of  Leon.)  but  the  burghers  had  nothing  to  do  with  their  appointment, 
and  they  had  no  legislative  power,  when  they  met.  (Hallam,  260.)  The  first  legislative 
cortes  was  that  of  Aragon,  during  the  reign  of  Peter  III.,  1276-85,  and  consisted  of  four 
classes,  prelates,  lords,  knights,  and  commons.  The  first  states-general,  in  France, was 
in  1302. 

^  The  commons, or  people  of  the  third  estate, had  no  family  names  until  after  the  period 
of  Magna  Charta, nor  were  such  names  common  until  the  Reign  of  Edward  III.  Indeed, 
the  rise,  continuance,  and  fall,  of  the  Roman  Comitia  and  the  modern  Commons,  and 
the  use,  disuse,  and  resumption,  of  family  names  of  the  people,  were  synchronal.  M.  A. 
Lowers,  "  Dictionary  of  English  Surnames." 

*See,  for  composition  of  "  Parliament"  in  the  year  1246,  Matthew  Paris,  11,  14S. 


THE  ROMAN  HOUSE  OK  COMMONS.  93 

principles  of  the  Roman  law.  The  union  of  the  Gothic  spirit  of  free- 
dom and  the  literature  of  the  Roman  republic,  bred  a  constant  demand 
for  some  engine  of  legislation  other  than  the  Sacred  college  of  Rome. 
To  this  demand  England's  priest-ridden  king  was  forced  to  yield.  No 
sooner  had  Constantinople  fallen  than  John  issued  a  writ,  or  writing, 
dated  in  1205,  summoning  the  prelates  and  barons  of  the  kingdom 
to  a  convocation.  This  is  the  first  writ  of  the  kind  on  official  record 
in  England;  the  first  one,  the  text  of  which  is  acually  extant,  bears 
the  date  1265.'  So  cautiusly  did  the  convocation  first  summoned  by 
John  assume  legislative  powers,  that  afterwards  it  actually  agreed  to 
submit  a  Compact  (the  Provisions  of  Oxford)  which  it  made  with  his 
successor,  Henry  III.,  to  the  approval  of  the  king  of  France,  who  in 
fact  annulled  it,  at  Amiens,  January  23rd,  1264.  It  was  not  until  1295 
that  the  representatives  of  the  burghs,  the  burgesses,  were  invited  to 
form  a  portion,  a  second  chamber,  of  the  Parliament;  nor  until  1327, 
when  it  deposed  Edward  II.,  that  it  assumed  the  right,  in  cases  of 
emergency,  to  act  independently  of  the  crown.  Parry  dates  the  com- 
mencement of  legislative  functions  after  the  beginning  of  Edward's 
reign;  the  dethronement  of  the  king  proves  that  these  functions  be- 
came completely  matured  in  the  rapid  course  of  twenty  years.  In 
other  words,  from  the  time  when  the  king's  parliament  was  a  single 
body  and  a  mere  council,  to  the  time  when  it  became  a  dual  body  and 
a  complete  legislature,  was  an  interval  of  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Now,  what  is  it  that  could  have  so  suddenly  converted  the  witenage- 
mote,  or  the  king's  advisory  council,  into  two  legislative  bodies,  one 
representing  the  churchmen  and  nobles,  the  other  the  boroughs  and 
citizens,  and  both  together  exercising  the  right  to  make  laws  for  the 
kingdom,  and  even  to  depose  the  king  himself?  Nothing  whatever; 
for  no  such  miracle  took  place.  The  two  things  are  totally  dissimilar, 
and  belong  to  phases  of  civilization  very,  very,  far  apart.  They  do  not 
fit,  they  do  not  match,  they  do  not  merge,  there  is,  so  to  speak,  no 
continuous  lode,  or  vein.  The  Saxon  witenagemote  and  the  English 
legislature  are  separated,  not  merely  by  a  single  regnal  period,  nor 
even  by  that  immense  interval  of  time  which  elapsed  between  the  Ro- 
man Commonwealth  and  the  accession  of  Edward  III.,  but  also  by 
dissonance  of  origin,  history,  and  function.  The  composition  and 
powers  of  the  two  bodies  were  fundamentally  different.  The  witen- 
agemote was  merely  an  advisory  council  of  the  king,  and  consisted 
of  such  prelates  and  nobles  as  he  chosed  or  deemed  it  wise  or  politic 
to  summon ;  the  Houses  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  was  a  legislature : 

'  Parry,  "  Parliaments  and  Councils  of  England." 


94  ANCIENT    liRITAlN. 

the  latter  consisted  of  such  members  of  tlie  commonalty  as  were  ap- 
pointed or  elected  according  to  law,  and  it  had  the  right  to  assemble 
and  exercise  its  functions.  The  interval  of  time  which  elapsed  be- 
tween the  Comitia  of  Rome  and  the  Commons  of  England  might  pos- 
sibly have  been  sufficient,  under  favourable  circumstances,  to  develope 
a  barbarian  pow-wow,  or  council,  into  a  senate,  or  a  House  of  Lords; 
but  twice  that  interval  of  time  would  not  have  sufficed  to  mature  it 
into  a  popular  legislature  or  House  of  Commons.  The  latter,  there- 
fore, could  not  have  sprung  from  the  witenagemote. 

As  for  that  opinion  of  the  Sorbonne  which  was  voiced  by  the  learned 
Guizot,  that  modern  legislatures  derive  their  origin  from  the  so-called 
Christian  ecclesiastical  councils  of  the  dark  ages,  it  is  hardly  worth 
the  trouble  of  refuting.^  There  is  even  less  connection  between  such 
bodies  as  these  are  described  to  have  been,  than  between  a  popular 
legislature  and  a  barbarian  witenagemote.  The  Brahminical,  the 
Egyptian,  and  the  Levitical  codes,  all  of  them  some  thousands  of  years 
ago,  gave  birth  to  ecclesiastical  councils ;  but  neither  of  them,  nor  any 
other  hierarchical  system,  ever  bred  a  legislature;  and  it  is  tolerably 
safe  to  predict  that  they  never  will  breed  one.  The  supposed  develope- 
ment  of  the  Saxon  witenagemote  into  a  legislative  chamber  chosen 
by  the  people,  has  been  the  theme  of  historians  who  were  anxious  to 
prove  the  superiority  of  all  Anglo-Saxon  institutions.  Let  us  en- 
deavour to  follow  the  English  House  of  Commons  from  an  earlier  and 
more  natural,  if  less  flattering,  source. 

Omitting  from  view  the  legislative  assemblies  previously  established 
in  Greece,  as  opening  too  wide  a  field  of  research,  and  confining  the 
view  entirely  to  Rome,  it  soon  becomes  evident  that  in  the  matured 
institutions  of  that  great  state,  and  not  in  the  customs  of  shifting  and 
predatory  tribes,  are  to  be  found  the  origin  of  the  English  House  of 
Commons  and  other  modern  legislatures.  In  early  Rome  the  citizens 
— and  these, it  must  be  remembered,  were  a  select  and  limited,  or  repre- 
sentative, class — were  enrolled  in  several  different  organizations;  at 
first  into  tribes  and  parishes,  afterward  into  census  classes.  During 
several  centuries  these  organizations  existed  contemporaneously;  but 
in  serving,  as  each  of  them  did,  at  one  time  or  another,  for  a  legis- 
lative assembly,  they  successively  exerted  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  con- 
stitutional powers  of  the  Commons.     Thus,  during  the  reign  or  pre- 

*  Guizot  concealed  a  fact  which  the  epigraphic  monuments  establish  beyond  question, 
namely,  that  the  concilia  of  the  Dark  Ages  were  not  Christian  assemblages,  but  idol- 
atrous organizations,  to  practice  and  enforce  the  worship  of  Augustus  Csesar,  as  the 
pretended  son  of  God.  Rushforth. 


THE    ROMAN    HOUSE    OF    COMMONS  95 

valence  of  thecomitia  Centuriata,  theCuriatawasa  decayed  assembly, 
which  only  retained  some  ceremonial  and  trifling  remains  of  itsancient 
power;  whilst  the  Tributa,  not  yet  conscious  of  its  eventful  future, 
was  little  more  than  a  pojiular  club,  with  power  to  elect  certain  minor 
public  officials.  (Dio.  Hal.,  iv,  20.)  Each  of  these  successive  comitias 
or  Houses  of  Commons  was  linked  to  a  senate,  whose  composition 
and  powers,  from  time  to  time,  will  now  be  briefly  mentioned.  The 
senate  which  Romulus  is  said  to  have  created  consisted  of  one  hun- 
dred patricians, of  whom  the  thirty  curias  or  parishes  of  Rome,chosed 
three  each.  The  three  tribes,  into  which  all  the  citizens,  (parishioners 
ornot,)weredivided,alsochosed  three  each, and  the  king  the  remaining 
one.  The  senators  were  afterward  chosen  by  the  censors,  but  only 
from  among  those  patricians  who  had  served  a  necessary  apprentice- 
ship in  the  military  and  civil  services.  Some  authorshold  that  Romulus, 
others  that  Tarquinius, increased  the  senate  to  the  sacred  300  which 
composed  its  numbers  down  to  the  time  of  Sylla.  The  senate  of  the 
archaic  period  were  the  guardians  of  religion,  of  the  sibylline  books, 
of  the  treasury,  the  army,  and  the  navy;  of  subsidiary  kings,  and  of 
allied  cities;  they  appointed  all  ambassadors  out  of  their  own  body, 
they  appointed  the  public  magistrates,  judges  and  priests,  they  treated 
with  foreign  nations,  they  conferred  military  honours  and  triumphs, 
they  could  bestow  the  title  of  king,  they  declared  war  or  peace,  they 
formed  a  court  for  the  trial  of  treason,  and  other  high  crimes ;  and  they 
could  proclaim  and  enforce  martial  law  in  times  of  peace. 

When  the  middle  class  had  greatly  increased  in  numbers  and  influ- 
ence there  was  added  to  the  senate  that  second  chamber  or  assembly 
already  mentioned, called  the  comitia  Curiata,  upon  which  some  of  the 
powers  of  the  senate  were  conferred.  This  chamber  is  commonly  de- 
scribed as  an  assembly  of  all  the  plebians,but  the  correctness  of  such  a 
view  is  not  quite  free  from  doubt."  Rather  does  it  seem  to  have  been  a 
representative  body,  consisting  of  delegates  from  the  thirty  religious 
congregations,  or  parishes,  into  which  Rome  and  the  three  tribes  were 
divided.  These  delegates  were  chiefly,  if  not  all,  of  the  middle  class. 
They  voted  in  the  Curiata  by  parishes,  each  one  of  which  had  its  own 
temple  and  its  own  religious  congregation,  each  curia  having  one 
vote.  The  vote  of  sixteen  curioe,  no  matter  how  few  or  many  suffra- 
gans it  represented,  was  sufficient  to  carry  or  defeat  any  measure,  or  to 
elect  the  king,  or  any  other  magistrate;  for  such  was  one  of  the  pow- 
ers conferred  upon  this  comitia  by  the  new  constitution.  The  Curiata 
could  not  be  held  without  authority  of  the  senate,  nor  could  either 

*  Consult  Livy,  vi,  18;  xxix,  ig;  Aul.  Gell.,  .xv,  27;  Ramshorn,  307. 


96  ANCIENT     liRITAIN. 

chamber  lawfully  meet  on  the  same  day  as  the  other.  The  king  was 
elected  by  both  chambers;  the  inferior  magistrates  by  the  Curiata 
alone.  With  the  parish  priest  behind  each  vote  of  the  Curiata,  and  in 
front  of  it  those  allurements  of  military  and  ecclesiastical  preferment 
which  the  senate  could  offer  to  its  members,  it  is  easy  to  infer  the 
ecclesiastical  and  aristocratic  tendency  of  the  Curiata,  and  the  dis- 
satisfaction which  its  composition  and  proceedings  occasioned  to  the 
citizens  of  a  state,  whose  institutes  owed  so  much  to  Greek  republi- 
can influence,  as  did  those  of  Rome.  Clouds  of  ecclesiastical  legends 
have  obscured  the  details  of  this  subject,  but  the  outline  is  percept- 
ible in  the  assassination,  real  or  pretended,  of  Romulus,  the  regula- 
tion of  the  priesthood  by  Numa,  and  the  repression  of  the  patricians 
by  the  emancipated  slave  Servius  Tullius. 

The  constitution  established  by  this  king  destroyed  the  power  of 
the  Curiata  by  degrading  them  from  the  position  of  a  legislature,  to 
that  of  a  mere  electoral  convocation.  The  Curiata  continued  to  meet 
at  intervals,  but  their  function  was  impaired ;  and  whereas  they  form- 
erly needed  the  Campus  Martins,  they  now  found  plenty  of  room  in 
the  Forum.  They  could  still  elect  the  flamines,  or  change  the  sacra 
of  a  citizen,  or  legitimatize  an  act  of  adoption,  and  perhaps  conduct 
trials  for  high  treason;  but  little  more.  The  citizens  soon  ceased  to 
attend  their  convocations,  and,  after  the  establishment  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, the  Curiata  gradually  sank  into  oblivion."*  Beyond  de- 
priving the  censors  of  their  power  to  choose  the  senators,  a  power 
which  the  king  took  into  his  own  hands,  the  constitution  of  Servius 
Tullius  made  but  little  change  in  the  powers  of  the  senate.  With  this 
body  was  now  coordinated  a  chamber,  chosen  in  an  entirely  different 
manner  from  the  Curiata.  The  latter  had  been  based  upon  rank ;  the 
Centuriata  was  based  upon  wealth.  The  individual  possessions  of  the 
the  citizens  having  been  ascertained  by  means  of  a  census,  they  were 
divided  into  six  classes.  Commencing  with  the  richest,  the  first  class 
was  subdivided  into  forty  centuries  of  foot  soldiers, eighteen  of  cav- 
alry, and  forty  of  city  guards;  each  century  having  a  vote  in  the 
comitia  Centuriata.  In  like  manner  the  second  class  had  twenty-two 
centuries,  the  third  twenty,  the  fourth  twenty-two,  the  fifth  thirty, 
and  the  sixth, one;  in  all,  193  centuries.  The  first  rank  represented 
the  fewest  number  of  citizens,  yet  had  98,  or  a  majority  of  all  the 
votes;  the  sixth  rank  represented  more  citizens  than  all  the  others 
combined,  yet  it  had  but  one  vote.    The  Centuriata  was  therefore  a 

'f*  Toward  the  close  of  the  Republic  thirty  lictors  were  the  only  representatives  of  the 
thirty  parishes  which  were  represented  in  the  comitia.    Cicero,  de  Lege,  Agr.,  Ii,  12. 


THK    ROMAN    HOUSK    OF    COMMONS.  97 

limited  assembly,  representing  property,  one  in  which  the  sixth  rank, 
or  poorer  class,  of  citizens, was  practically  without  a  voice.  The  as- 
sembly was  therefore  of  aristocratic  tendency,  yet  far  less  subject, 
than  the  Curiata  had  been,  to  ecclesiastical  control. 

As  the  majority  of  all  the  votes  prevailed,  the  first  rank,  called  the 
prerogative  century,  practically  had  the  comitia  to  itself.     This  was 
perhaps  not  the  original  constitution  of  the  Centuriata,  but  that  into 
which  it  settled.     The  representatives,  those  who  counted  the  votes 
in  this  comitia,  were  nominated  at  party  "caucuses,"  or  primary,  or 
preliminary,  elections,  and  elected  by  a  majority  of  the  century  to 
which  they  respectively  belonged.   The  Cencuriata  met  at  first  at  the 
Campus  Martius,  probably  in  the  Villa  Publica,"  afterwards  at  the 
Janiculum.  The  sessions  were  opened  with  prayers  and  sacred  rites. '^ 
The  speaker, centurio  maximo,  was  then  elected.  This  officer  had  great 
influence,  and  among  other  powers,  could  grant  or  withhold  the  privi- 
lege of  a  member  to  the  floor.  '^  The  speaker  having  made  his  opening 
address, the  House  was  ready  forbusiness.  Votes  were  taken  atfirst  by 
word  of  mouth,  sometimes  by  divisions,  when  the  votes  were  counted 
by  the  representatives  or  custodes,  afterwards  by  ballots  deposited  iti 
urns.    During  the  session  a  standard  or  flag  was  hoisted  over  the  Jani- 
culum, and  when  the  comitia  adjourned,  the  flag  was  hauled  down. 
The  resemblance  of  these  functions  and  ceremonies  to  those  which 
distinguish  the  lower  house  of  the  modern  British  legislature,  is  so 
remarkable  that  no  further  excuse  is  deemed  necessary  for  calling  the 
Roman  comitia,  what  indeed  its  name  indicates  it  to  have  been,  a 
House  of  Commons.      It  is  true,  that  unlike  the  modern  legislature, 
the  Roman  comitia  did  not  consist  of  members  or  representatives 
elected  for  a  term,  and  only  amenable  to  change  or  displacement  by 
formal  impeachment,  or  when  that  term  was  over.    In  the  comitia  the 
people  could  displace  their  representatives  or  custodes,  at  anytime. 
But  these  peculiar  modes  of  expressing  the  popular  will  do  not  mar 
the  essential  resemblance  between  the  two  bodies.    They  were  both 
legislatures,  they  were  legislatures  which  were  designed  to  express 
the  popular  will,  and  which,  more  or  less  perfectly,  did  express  it; 
and  this  is  what  neither  witenagemote  nor  church-council  ever  did,  or 
ever  attempted  to  do.   The  manner  of  voting,  the  limitations  placed 
upon  votes,  the  duration  of  the  citizen's  or  the  delegate's  office,  the  pow- 
ers of  the  presiding  officer, all  these  are  details  of  minor  importance. 
The  comitia  Centuriata  elected  the  consuls,  censors,  prcetors,  and 
other  principal  magistrates, including  the  rex  sacrarum,and  the  dec- 
"  Livy,  IV,  22.  '^  Livy,  xxxix,  15.  '^  Livy,  i,  60;  11,  2;  in,  54;  ix,  7. 


9&>  ANCIKNT    I'.KriAlN. 

cinviri.  It  supplanted  the  (luriat;i  in  sittin^^  as  a  hiy;h  court  of  jus- 
tice in  cases  of  inipeaclinient  fcjr  treason,  and,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  furnished  the  basis  of  the  jury  system,  by  opening  its  doors  to 
any  citizen  who  desired  to  appeal  from  the  decision  of  a  magistrate 
to  the  judgement  of  his  peers.  In  other  respects  the  powers  of  the 
comitia  were  connected  with  those  of  the  senate.  It  could  only  enact 
laws  in  conjunction  with  that  body.  All  bills  which  originated  in  the 
comitia  were  committed  to  writing,  and  read  over  aloud,  before  they 
■were  put  to  vote.  When  passed,  they  were  engrossed  and  sent  to  the 
senate.'''  The  comitia  could  be  summoned  to  meet  on  any  lawful  day 
by  edict  of  the  consuls,  or,  in  their  absence,  by  edict  of  the  praetor. 
This  edict  had  to  be  issued  at  least  twenty-seven  days,  three  weeks, 
tres  nundinal, in  advance  of  the  proposed  meeting, an  interval  which 
gave  time  for  popular  heat  to  cool  down.  The  house  was  rarely  con- 
vened on  the  nundine  or  day  of  rest,  because  this  was  to  be  kept  holy, 
no  business  being  allowed.'^  But  exceptions  were  sometimed  made.*" 
Sessions  at  which  the  public  magistrates  were  elected,  were  usually 
held  about  six  months  before  their  official  terms  were  to  commence. 
The  censors  were  exceptions;  their  terms  commenced  immediately  af- 
ter their  election.  All  who  had  the  full  right  of  Roman  citizens,  whether 
they  lived  at  Rome  or  elsewhere,  enjoyed  the  privilege  to  visit  the 
comitia,  but  only  those  within  certain  ages  and  otherwise  qualified, 
could  vote.  They  were  essentially  representatives.  Candidates  for 
offices  in  the  comitia,  such  as  those  of  custodes,  used  the  same  arts 
to  gain  votes  as  are  employed  now;  they  canvassed  the  people  by  vis- 
iting their  houses,  accosting  them  in  a  friendly  and  respectful  manner 
in  public,  or  by  addressing  them  on  nundines,  or  other  idle  days,  from 
the  top  of  some  rising  ground,  or  the  stump  of  a  tree,  or  other  ele- 
vated place."  There  were  also  clubs  or  sodalities,  of  voters,  mock- 
clubs  or '  'strikers,  "and,  toward  the  end  of  the  republic,  election-agents, 
middle-men  and  secret  dealers  in  votes.'* 

In  the  exquisite  work  of  art  called  the  Venus  de  Milo  one  cheek  is 
higher  than  the  other,  the  chin  is  "lopsided,"  the  brow  is  low,  etc. 
These  imperfections  have  been  justly  regarded  by  art-critics  as  evi- 
dences that  the  statue  was  designed  from  a  real,  a  living,  subject.  In 
like  manner,  the  very  imperfections  of  the  Roman  comitia  prove  that 
it  was  a  real,  an  actual,  a  human,  institution.   On  the  other  hand,  the 

''' Livy,  I,  60;  III,  34;  V,  52;  VI,  20;  X,  22;  xxxi,  6,  7. 

'^  Table  in.  of  the  Twelve  Tables;  Macrob.,  i,  16.  '^Cicero,  Att.,  i,  14. 

"Cicero,  Att.,  i,  i;  Piso,  23;  Horace,  Ep.  i,  50,  60,  etc.;  Macrob.,  i,  16. 
*^  Cicero,  Plan.  15,  16;  Adam,  170;  Pliny,  Let.  vii,  9. 


THK  ROMAN  HOUSK  OK  COMMONS.  99 

entire  absence  of  any  such  blemishes  in  the  Saxon  witenagemote, 
when  regarded  as  a  legislature,  is  sufficient,  by  itself,  to  stamp  it  as 
a  mere  phantasm,  a  phantasm  which  has  been  conjured  up  by  the  ec- 
clesiastical mind,  to  support  its  ghostly  history  of  the  dark  and  med-  ' 
ieval  ages.  Not  only  do  the  modern  and  the  Roman  legislatures 
resemble  each  other  in  being  imperfect,  they  still  more  resemble  each 
other  in  the  identity  of  such  blemishes.  These  blemishes,  as  has  been 
shown,  were  alike  in  both-  cases.  Thus,  not  only  the  structure,  as 
before  shown,  but  the  very  features,  of  these  bodies,  betray  their 
kinship  and  the  descent  of  one  from  the  other.  When  similar  features 
can  be  discovered  in  the  witenagemote,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  en- 
quire why  it  'slumbered  as  a  council  from  the  reign  of  Ina  in  the  sev- 
enth century,  to  that  of  Edward  II.,  in  the  fourteenth,  and  then  woke 
up  all  of  a  sudden  as  a  legislature. 

Although  the  comitia  Centuriata  was  evidently  intended  to  be  a  sec- 
ular chamber,  the  unwearied  assiduity  of  the  priesthood  succeeded 
in  bringing  it,  like  its  predecessor  the  Curiata,  under  ecclesiastical 
subjection.  This  process  began  with  the  innocent  custom  of  opening 
the  sessions  with  prayers  and  religious  rites;  then  the  augurs  came 
into  play,  and  no  session  could  be  held  nor  law  passed  without  their 
consent ;  then  the  pontifex-maximus  was  permitted,  when  he  choosed, 
to  interpose  a  supplication;  until,  at  last,  as  it  had  been  anciently  in 
the  Curiata,  the  transactions  of  the  House  came  to  depend  upon  the 
eagerness  or  indifference  with  which  the  sacred  chickens  happened  to 
€at  their  food.'^  As  it  could  not  have  been  a  difficult  matter  for  the 
priests  to  keep  two  sets  of  chickens,  exactly  alike  in  size  and  colour, 
the  one  abstinent,  the  other  recently  glutted,  it  needs  no  profundity 
of  intellect  to  guess  how  the  chicken  trick  was  worked. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  plebians  made 
several  attempts  to  stem  the  rising  tide  of  ecclesiasticism  in  the  comi- 
tia; but  they  began  too  late,  and  despairing  of  remedying  the  evil  by 
lawful  means,  they  adopted  the  revolutionary  expedient  of  escaping 
from  both  ecclesiastical  and  patrician  control — for  these  were  always 
linked  together — by  withdrawing,  in  a  body,  from  the  city.  This  they 
did,  A.  U.  261,  encamping  first  on  the  Aventine  and  afterwards  on 
Mons  Sacer.  This  procedure  led  to  a  Compromise,  a  new  constitu- 
tion, the  creation  of  Tribunes  of  the  Commons,  and  the  supremacy 
of  the  comitia  Tributa  over  the  Centuriata.  The  first  important  ses- 
sion of  the  Tributa  was  summoned  by  the  tribune  Sp.  Sicinus,  to  try 
the  impeachment  of  Coriolanus,  A.U.  263. 

"  Lucan,  Pharsal.,  \,  392-6. 


lOO  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

The  basis  of  this  House  of  Commons  was  intended  to  be  neither 
church-membersliip,  nor  wealth;  but  character  and  respectabihty. 
The  various  districts  of  Rome  iiad  originally  been  inhabited  by  Latins, 
Sabines,  and  Luceres,  or  foreigners,  each  of  whom  had  their  own 
neighbourhood.  Difference  of  customs  and  religion  was  probably  the 
origin  of  this  separation,  for  it  was  forbidden  to  remove  out  of  one 
ward  into  another.^"  With  the  growth  of  the  state  beyond  the  mu- 
nicipal limits,  this  regulation  fell  into  neglect,  and  Servius  Tullius,  in 
order  to  remedy  the  disorder  which  followed,  had,  in  A.  U.  i88,  made 
a  new  division  of  the  people,  this  time  into  twenty-one  tribes  or  wards, 
of  whom  the  city  contained  four,  and  the  suburbs  or  country,  seven- 
teen. It  may  as  well  be  remarked  in  this  place  that,  in  after  times, 
the  number  of  tribes  was  increased  to  thirty-five,  and  that  still  later, 
that  is  to  say,  during  the  decline  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  censors 
exercised  the  invidious  power  to  distribute  the  citizens  into  whatever 
tribes  they  pleased,  without  regard  to  race  or  domicile.  But  nothing 
of  this  sort  was  known  to  the  times  of  which  we  are  now  speaking. 
As  the  comitia  of  the  twenty-one  Tribes  proceeded  to  exercise  the 
powers  of  a  legislature,  and,  in  virtue  of  the  Compromise  before  men- 
tioned, was  recognized  as  such  by  the  senate,  the  Centuriata,  as  a 
law-making  body,  fell  into  disuse,  and  so  did  the  more  objectionable 
customs  that  had  grown  up  with  it.^'  Indeed,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  they  were  expressly  prohibited.  By  the  year  A.  U.  282, the  comi- 
tia Tributa  secured  the  right  to  elect  the  public  magistrates.  After 
that  time,  their  sessions  became  more  frequent,  and  their  proceed- 
ings more  interesting.  As  to  their  own  officers,  the  custodes,  or  tellers, 
and  the  speaker,  they  were  elected  in  the  same  manner  as  were  those 
of  the  Centuriata.  In  A.  U.  299,  the  people,  wearied  with  the  empiri- 
cal rulings  of  the  magistrates,  who,  though  elected  by  the  comitia, 
were  chiefly  of  the  patrician  and  ecclesiastical  orders,  sought  and  ob- 
tained another  Compromise  with  the  senate.  This  was  to  substitute 
for  the  consuls  an  executive  council  of  ten  patricians,  Decemviri, 
who  should  be  obliged  to  draw  up  a  code  of  written  law  and  submit 
the  same  to  the  Centuriata  for  approval;  meanwhile  the  tribunes  to 
be  suspended. 

In  A.U.  305-6,  B.C.  449,  occurred  the  tragedy  of  Virginia, the  sec- 
ond secession  of  the  plebeians  to  the  Aventine  and  Mons  Sacer,  the 
fall  of  the  Decemviri,  and  a  new  treaty  between  the  patricians  and 

■^*'  Dionys.,  iv,  14. 

^'  So  late  as  the  time  of  Cicero  the  election  of  the  consuls  was  declared  in  the  Cen- 
turiata. "According  to  the  practice  and  usage  of  our  forefathers,  on  that  day  I  declared 
L.  Mursena,  consul,  at  the  centuriated  comitia."  Orat.  pro  Mur.,  A.  U.691. 


THE    ROMAN    HOUSE    OF    COMMONS.  lOI 

commons,  which  reinstated  the  consuls  and  the  tribunes  of  the  peo- 
ple, rendered  the  persons  of  the  latter  inviolable,  and  affirmed  the 
authority  of  the  comitia  Tributa  over  all  the  functions  of  state. 

It  is  from  this  new  Constitution  that  must  be  dated  the  real  glory  of 
Rome:  for  it  is  upon  this  instrument  that  is  founded  the  supremacy 
of  the  civil  law  over  military  and  ecclesiastical  law,  over  caste  and  privi- 
lege and  the  superstitious  prerogatives,  which  still  distinguishes  the 
Western  world  from  the  Orient.   Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  this  great 
social  reform  largely  promoted  and  rendered  possible  the  numerical 
system  of  Money  which  was  established  in  Rome  some  three-fourths 
of  a  century  afterwards,  and  which  is  fully  described  in  the  author's 
"History  of  Money. "  One  was  the  necessary  complement  of  the  other. 
But  Rome  never  entirely  freed  itself  from  the  aristocratic  influences 
of  its  earliest  form  of  government.    Even  in  the  most  democratic  times 
there  was  a  body  of  exclusives  who  continually  conspired  to  rule  the 
state.   The  new  Constitution  was  hardly  established  before  these  self- 
styled  patricians  sought  to  limit  the  powers  of  the  Tributa,  by  arguing 
from  the  etymology  of  their  enactments,  (plebiscita,)  that  they  only 
bound  the  plebs;  whereupon  the  Centuriata,  to  whom  the  dispute 
seems  to  have  been  referred,  declared  that  "whatever  was  ordered 
by  the  Comitia  collectively,  should  bind  the  whole  nation."  Not  only 
this,  but  they  threw  another  safeguard  around  the  persons  of  the  popu- 
lar tribunes,  by  devoting  to  Jupiter  anybody  who  should  offer  them  an 
injury.   The  property  of  such  offender — and  here  is  to  be  seen  the  an- 
cient ecclesiastical  hand — was  thoughtfully  confiscated  to  the  temple 
of  Ceres,  Liber,  and  Libera,  the  Mother  or  Spouse,  the  Son,  and  the 
Daughter,  of  the  Buddhic  or  Bacchic  god.^^  This  last  provision  implies 
an  understanding  between  the  people  and  the  priests  who  influenced 
the  Centuriata.      It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say  that  the  defeat  of  the 
patricians  was  not  of  a  lasting  character.      For  a  time,  indeed,  the 
Tributa  became  the  supreme  power  of  the  state.      Like  the  English 
House  of  Commons  at  the  present  day,  it  not  only  co-operated  with 
the  senate,  it  dominated  that  chamber.      It  ordered  triumphs  which 
had  been  refused  by  the  senate;  it  absolved  certain  persons  from  the 
operation  of  resolutions  passed  by  the  senate ;  it  granted  to  others  the 
freedom  of  the  city;  it  elected  the  consuls,  the  pontifex-maximus,  the 
proconsuls,  and  the  proprsetors;  it  decreed  that  the  comitia  might  be 
convened  without  consent  of  the  senate;  it  even  dared  to  abolish  the 
auspices  and  the  sacred  chickens.    These  acts  of  sacrilege  had  not  a 
little  to  do  with  its  subsequent  downfall."  It  has  been  generally  held 
■■'  Livy,  III,  55.  "^  Livy,  11,  56-7,  60;  III,  55;  v,  52;  vin,  12;  ix,  38. 


I02  ANCIENT    IJRITAIN. 

that,  in  electing  the  chief-pontiff,  only  the  representatives  of  seven- 
teen out  of  tlie  twenty-one  tribes  voted,"  and  in  this  view  the  author 
is  disposed  to  acquiesce;  but  from  the  fact  that  after  the  expulsion 
of  the  decemviri,  Quintus  Furius,  who  was  pontifex-maximus,  A.  U. 
305-24,  summoned  the  comitia  to  elect  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  as 
well  as  from  other  considerations,  it  seems  likely  that  at  first  the  entire 
comitia  elected  the  chief-pontiff,  and  that  the  other  custom  only  grew 
up  at  a  subsequent  date. 

In  A.  U.  441,  Appius  Claudius,  surnamed  Csecus,  was  censor  with 
C.  Plautius."  The  former  was  a  descendant  of  that  decemvir  of  the 
same  name  who  occasioned  the  tragedy  of  Virginia.  He  is,  however, 
better  known  as  the  builder  of  the  great  Aqueduct  and  the  Appian 
Way,  both  of  which  monuments  of  antiquity  still  survive.  In  order  ta 
win  the  favour  of  the  people,  Claudius  employed  his  authority  of  censor 
to  deprive  the  aristocratic  potitii  of  their  fat  livings  in  the  temple  of 
Hercules,  which  he  conferred  upon  plebeians;  he  admitted  certain 
upstarts,  whose  free  lineage  could  only  be  traced  backward  for  a  few 
generations,  to  the  senatorial  rank;  and  he  admitted  members  of  the 
plebian  tribes  into  those  of  aristocratic  tendencies,  or  membership.^® 
For  these  services  to  the  popular  cause  the  comitia  permitted  him  to 
hold  the  censorship  for  five  years,  and  he  was  twice  elected  consul, 
to  wit,  in  A.  U.  447  and  448. 

However,  the  next  year  Quintus  Fabius,  surnamed  Rullianus,  be- 
came censor,and  belonging  to  the  opposite  party,he  at  once  proceeded 
to  undo  the  heinous  work  of  Claudius,  by  drafting  all  obnoxious  per- 
sons into  the  four  urban  tribes,  thus  more  or  less  cleansing  the  other 
seventeen, and  rendering  them  less  hostile  to  the  patricians  and  priests. 
As  it  was  the  representatives  of  seventeen  tribes  who,  after  this  period, 
(if  not  before,)  elected  the  chief-pontiff,  and  as  such  chief-pontiff — 
though  the  seventeen  tribes  who  elected  him  were  chosen  by  lot — 
always  proved  acceptable  to  the  patrician  class,  we  must  believe  that 
the  choice  of  these  tribes  and  their  choice  of  the  pontifex-maximus 
were  both  directed  by  miraculous  intervention.  The  reward  of  Quintus 
Fabius  for  his  services  to  the  patrician  and  ecclesiastical  party,  was 
the  surname  of  Maximus,a  title  which  his  military  exploits  had  entirely 
failed  to  procure  him.-'' 

In  A.  U.  416,  (Adam  says  414  and  Lempriere  435,)  the  dictator 
Publilius  Philo  "  passed  three  laws  highly  advantageous  to  the  com- 
mons and  inimical  to  the  nobility,  one  that  the  acts  of  the  commons 

**Cic.,  RuIL,  II,  7.  25  Consult  the  Index  to  this  volume. 

^®  Livy,  IX,  46.  '^  Livy,  ix,  46;  see  my  "  Middle  Ages  "  Index,  voc.  "  Great." 


THE    ROMAN    HOUSE    OF    COMMONS.  103 

should  bind  all  Romans,  another  that  the  senate  should,  previous  to 
the  taking  of  the  suffrages,  declare  their  approval  of  all  laws  which 
should  be  passed  in  the  Centuriata,  and  another  that  one  of  the  censors 
should  be  elected  out  of  the  commons."*^  This  is  not  very  explicit. 
Cicero  (Brut.,  14)  attributes  the  second  law  to  Moenius,  the  tribune, 
A.  U.  467,  so  that  both  the  purport,  the  author,  and  the  date  of  the 
law,  are  uncertain.  However,  it  points  to  the  zenith  of  the  power  at- 
tained by  the  comitia.  This  supremacy  of  the  popular  branch  of  the 
legislature  was  maintained  for  some  two  hundred  years,  before  it  be- 
came obscured  by  the  advancing  shadow  of  the  offended  but  patient 
chickens.  In  connection  with  the  superstitious  respect  which  they 
paid  to  these  fowls,  it  is  curious  to  note  how  often  and  how  intimately 
the  Romans  mingled  religious  grovelling  with  the  highest  form  of 
legislative  wisdom.  An  example  of  this  kind  is  found  in  the  lex  Cae- 
cilia  Didia,  A.  U.  658,  which  forbade  the  inclusion  of  more  than  one 
subject  in  a  Bill,  and  in  another  law,  which  required  a  periodical  pub- 
lication of  the  public  accounts  relating  to  receipts  and  expenditures. 
There  are  some  modern  states  which  have  notattained,even  yet, these 
perfections  of  administration. 

The  final  decline  of  the  comitia  is  to  be  dated  from  the  ill-advised  bill 
of  the  tribune  Apuleius  Saturninus,  who,  in  A.  U.  654  and  under  the 
auspices  of  Marius,  attempted  to  revive  the  measure  of  Moenius. 
Saturninus  carried  a  law  through  the  comitia  which  provided  that  the 
senators,  under  penalty  of  losing  their  rank,  should  come  to  the  forura 
and  swear  to  "  confirm  whatever  the  comitia  should  enact."  This  was, 
practically,  to  dispense  with  the  legislative  function  of  the  senate  al- 
together, a  highly  dangerous  policy  in  a  state  which  contained  a  vast 
number  of  superstitious,  uneducated,  and  indigent  citizens.  However, 
the  senators  took  the  oath — all  but  the  chief-pontiff,  Lucius  Caecilius 
Metellus,surnamed  Dalmaticus, who  quietly  but  firmly  refused.  Where- 
upon the  comitia  decreed  that  the  consuls  should  interdict  Metellus 
the  use  of  fire  and  water;  and  he  was  banished  to  Rhodes.  Within  a 
year's  time  Saturninus  Glaucius  and  others  of  the  democratic  party 
were  slain;  Metellus  was  recalled;  and  Rome  became  involved  in  a 
series  of  civil  wars  which  only  ended  with  the  entire  downfall  of  the 
comitia  and  the  practical  degradation  of  the  senate  to  the  rank  of  an 
imperial  council. ^^ 

Upon  the  occasion  of  electing  public  magistrates  the  comitia  Trib- 

**  Livy.  VIII,  12. 

*'  Plutarch,  in  Marius,  i,  464.  On  August  5,  1893,  a  similar  proposal  was  discussed 
in  the  British  House  of  Commons.  An  analogous  measure,  the  election  of  Senators  by 
direct  vote  of  the  people,  is  now  (1900)  being  discussed  in  America. 


104  ANCMKXT    liKI'lAIX. 

uta  was  held  in  the  Campus  Martins.  For  general  legislation  and 
impeachments,  it  met  either  in  the  Forum,  the  Capitol,  or  the  Circus 
Flaminius.  At  a  later  period,  a  more  elegant  and  distinctive  edifice 
Avas  designed  for  this  legislature;  but  on  account  of  the  Civil  Wars 
the  project  was  abandoned.  With  the  usurpation  of  Caius  (Julius) 
Cffisar,  the  comitia  substantially  ceased  to  exist.  Its  formal  suppres- 
sion, however,  was  the  work  of  Tiberius. 

But  there  is  an  after-life  to  legislatures,  as  there  is  to  the  men  who 
compose  them :  a  life  that  can  never  die.  The  comitia  of  the  Republic 
was  commemorated  upon  its  coins;  it  was  embalmed  in  the  histories 
of  Livy  and  Tacitus;  it  was  imbued  with  life  in  the  pages  of  Plutarch. 
To  the  heroes  of  the  crusades,  to  the  western  nobles  wdio  took  part 
in  the  plunder  of  the  Romano-Byzantine  empire  and  transmitted  to 
their  distant  homes  the  testimony  of  their  valour  and  success,  none 
of  these  prizes  of  victory  was  regarded  more  preciously  than  a  copy 
of  one  of  these  ancient  books.  We  hear  nothing  of  classical  literature 
previous  to  the  Fall  of  the  Empire  in  1204;  immediately  afterward 
we  hear  of  little  else.  A  passion  to  read,  to  devour,  the  contents  of 
these  immortal  books,  seized  upon  every  cultivated  person.'"  The 
fabulous  chronicles  of  the  monks,  the  tumid  legends  of  chivalry,  the 
wild  songs  and  sagas  of  untutored  bards,  were  thrust  aside,  to  make 
way  for  the  more  finished  products  of  Greek  and  Latin  thought." 
The  myrmidons  of  the  pontificate  had  spent  nearly  a  thousand  years 
in  scouring  the  world  for  classical  manuscripts,  which  were  sent  to 
the  Vatican  and  there  destroyed,  or  else  mutilated,  or  stuffed  with 
base  forgeries.  With  the  design  to  perpetuate  their  rule  of  super- 
stition, they  had  deliberately  built  up  a  world  of  darkness,  to  search 
within  which  was  a  sin,  and  to  look  beyond  it  a  crime ;  yet  in  a  single 
day,  the  fruit  of  all  this  planting  was  placed  in  jeopardy. 

The  frantic  efforts  which  they  made  to  repair  this  breach,  attest 
their  sense  of  guilt  and  danger.  After  such  long  ages  of  repression  '^ 
the  most  sober  treatises  of  antiquity  became  revolutionary  documents ; 
and  every  art  was  employed  by  the  clergy  to  suppress  them."    The 

^^  "  The  discovery  of  an  unknown  manuscript,"  says  Tiraboschi,  "was  regarded  al- 
most as  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom."  Hallam,  707. 

^'  "  The  polite  literature,  as  well  as  the  abstruser  science  of  antiquity,  became  the 
subject  of  cultivation.  Such  (students)  were  John  of  Salisbury  and  William  of  Malms- 
bury."  Hallam,  704. 

^^  "  There  is  probably  not  a  single  line  quoted  from  any  poet  in  the  Greek  language 
from  the  sixth  to  the  fourteenth  century."  Hallam,  708. 

'^In  1275  the  booksellers  of  Paris  were  subjected  to  the  control  of  the  University. 
Hallam,  705,  n.  And  the  universities  were  subject  to  the  control  of  the  church.  A 
like  ordinance  was  doubtless  promulgated  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  Christendom. 
Printing  on  paper  was  as  yet  unknown. 


THE    ROMAN    HOUSE    OF    COMMONS.  I05 

condemnation,  by  the  Council  of  Paris  in  1209,  of  the  works  of  Aris- 
totle, which  had  been  found  in  Constantinople,"  is  only  an  instance 
of  that  general  policy  which  at  this  period  distinguished  the  operations 
of  the  pontificate.  To  uproot  heresy,  and  this  included  the  destruction 
of  what  was  left  of  the  ancient  literature.  Innocent  III.,  extended  to 
friars,  that  power  of  trial  and  condemnation,  which  before  had  been 
sufficiently  odious  in  the  hands  of  bishops. ^^  The  privilege  of  admis- 
sion to  the  bedsides  of  the  ailing  and  penitent,  turned  the  whole  Do- 
minican order  into  an  army  of  execrable  spies,  informers,  and  prose- 
cutors. A  million  of  pious  Christians,  Vaudois,  or  Albigenses,  were 
destroyed;  to  say  nothing  of  several  millions  of  Moslems  and  He- 
brews.^" All  these  people  had  books;  among  which  were  many  copies 
of  the  ancients."  All  these  books  were  burnt.  More  than  this,  the 
heads  of  Catholic  families  were  forced  or  enlisted  into  this  detestable 
service.  Both  Cola  de  Rienzi,  Dante,  and  Petrarch,  were  diligent 
searchers  after  and  restorers  of  ancient  manuscripts.  Yet  the  father 
of  the  latter,  in  his  zeal  to  follow  the  behests  of  the  church,  destroyed 
many  unique  and  priceless  works  which  the  learning  and  industry  of 
his  son  had  accumulated.  Among  these  were  doubtless  the  compen- 
dious works  of  Varro,  which  Petrarch  mentions  having  seen  in  his 
youth,  but  which  he  afterwards  lost  sight  of  and  could  never  recover. '' 
Two  works  of  Cicero,  since  lost,  were  certainly  in  Petrarch's  posses- 
sion.'" The  second  "decade,"  (ten  books,)  of  Livy,  seems  to  have 
been  destroyed  at  the  same  period;  for  that  was  another  object  of 
Petrarch's  searches."  The  first  six  books  of  the  Annals  of  Tacitus, 
which  could  not  be  found  during  the  Renaissance,  were  afterward 
recovered  from  the  monastery  of  Corvey,  in  Westphalia,  not  over 
forty  leagues  from  that  other  monastery  where  the  Codex  Argenteus 
was  altered  or  forged."' 

But  happily  the  efforts  to  destroy  the  ancient  literature  were  not 
altogether  successful.  Through  all  the  mutilations  to  which  the  Ro- 
man authors  were  subjected,  there  still  shone  enough  of  the  light  of 

^■*  Putnam's  Encyc,  "  Tabular  Views,"  sub  anno. 

^* Monastier,  "Hist. of  the  Vaudois  Church, "ch. XIV.  ^^Monastier;  Ilelvetius;  Draper. 

^''  Vopiscus  says  that  the  emperor  Tacitus,  toward  the  end  of  the  third  century,  caused 
ten  complete  copies  of  the  works  of  Tacitus,  the  historian,  to  be  deposited  annually  in 
every  public  archive  and  library  of  the  empire.  Vopiscus,  Tac,  X.  Yet  not  a  single 
complete,  or  nearly  complete,  copy  remains  at  the  present  day. 

^^  Varro  wrote  490  works.  Of  these  only  a  fragment  of  a  single  one,  (6  out  of  24  libri,) 
is  now  extant.  '-^^  Matthia;,  "Greek  and  Rom.  Lit.,"  p.  253. 

■*"  Lanciani  refuses  to  believe  that  Livy  was  purposely  mutilated  or  destroyed,  but  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  distinguished  antiquarian  labours  under  the  disadvantage 
of  living  and  holding  office  within  stone-throw  of  the  Lateran. 

■"  Arthur  Murphy's  "  Life  of  Tacitus,"  pp.  xvi,  etc. 


lo6  ANCIKNT     llRriAIN. 

the  past  to  illumine  the  darkness  of  medieval  Europe.  During  the 
first  century  of  the  Renaissance  Christendom  lived  more  in  twenty- 
years  than  it  had  previously  lived  in  five  hundred,  and  it  was  during- 
this  aera  of  returning  light  that  a  House  of  Commons  was  established 
in  England. 

At  that  period  there  existed  no  witenagemote  in  England,  nor  had 
such  a  body  existed  for  many  centuries,  nor  was  there  any  literature 
of  wide  repute  which  commemorated  the  witenagemote.  The  only 
existing  body  that  might  have  suggested  a  House  of  Commons  was 
the  Church  council,  consilium.  Yet,  in  fact,  this  organization  was  so- 
far  removed  from  essential  resemblance  to  a  popular  legislature,  that, 
as  Mr.  Rushforth  relates,  from  epigraphical  evidences,  it  was  origin- 
ally formed  to  practice  and  enforce  the  worship  of  Augustus  Caesar. 
The  only  feature  of  resemblance  was  the  fact  that  the  consilium  con- 
sisted of  deputies  "elected  by  the  communities  of  the  province, 
meeting  annually  at  a  central  temple."  A  House  of  Commons  could 
never  have  developed  out  of  a  consilium.  What  then  was  the  origin 
of  the  House  of  Commons?  It  arose  in  the  same  manner  as  did  those 
political  institutes  which  were  erected  in  the  seventeenth  century  by 
the  Puritans  of  New  England  and  the  Jesuits  of  Paraguay.  These 
people  drew  their  constitutions  from  the  Hebrew  scriptures.  In  like 
manner,  the  modern  institutes  of  freedom  were  derived  from  the  Ro- 
man scriptures;  from  Livy,  Cicero, Tacitus,  Suetonius  and  the  Corpus 
Juris  Civilis. 

The  simultaneous  appearance  of  legislative  bodies  in  other  parts 
of  the  then  recently  defunct  Roman  Empire — in  every  instance  com- 
posed of  two  chambers — proves  the  correctness  of  this  view.  Previous 
to  the  Fall  of  Constantinople  we  find  no  national  legislative  bodies 
in  Europe."  Immediately  after  that  event  we  find  such  bodies  in  al- 
most every  part  of  the  Continent,  in  Spain,  Gaul,  Germany  and  Brit- 
ain. Did  they  all  spring  from  Saxon  witenagemotes?  The  theory  is 
preposterous. 

They  sprang  from  Rome,  from  those  Roman  institutes  which  the 
Hierarchy  had  buried,  but  which  the  fragments  of  classical  Roman 
literature  had  preserved  and  resuscitated.  They  sprang  not  from  the 
wild  life  of  semi-barbarous  and  roving  tribes,  but  from  the  orderly 
life  and  actual  experience  of  a  settled  community  of  freemen,  who- 
had  long  disdained  to  live  under  any  laws  but  such  as  they  made  for 
themselves,  and  who  only  parted  with  their  legislature  after  they  fell 
beneath  the  crushing  weight  of  hierarchical  tyranny. 

*^  The  caricature  of  a  (municipal)  Senate  in  Rome  forms  no  exception  to  this  rule. 


THE    ROMAN    HOUSE    OF    COMMONS.  I07 

We  have  submitted  many  proofs  that  the  House  of  Commons  was 
not  the  conversion  of  a  chieftain's  or  a  king's  council  into  a  popular 
legislature,  a  conversion  impossible  under  the  circumstances,  and  un- 
known to  the  history  of  other  countries  with  legislative  bodies.  In 
the  Etablissemens  of  Saint  Louis  we  read:  "These  Establishments 
were  made  in  the  Great  Council  of  wise  men  and  good  priests."" 
The  witenagemote,  or  great  council,  or  curia  regis,  or  parliament,  of 
of  his  English  contemporary,  Henry  HI.,  was  composed  in  the  same 
manner,  and  it  exercised  similar  functions.  The  king,  assisted  by 
the  advice  of  his  council,  willed  so  and  so,  to  be  done.  Such  had 
been  a  consilium  of  the  Caesars,  such  an  imperial  bench,  such  a  Saxon 
witenagemote.  It  was  a  council,  not  a  legislature;  it  assisted  the  de- 
liberations of  the  sovereign  or  of  his  vicars,it  had  no  independent  ex- 
istence, it  did  not  represent  the  people.  But  the  ancient  comitia  did; 
and  so  did  the  English  House  of  Commons,  whose  creation,  and  the 
creation  of  like  bodies  in  other  European  states,  therefore  marks  the 
restoration  of  that  political  freedom  to  the  Roman  world,  which  had 
expired  in  the  triumph  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  was  resurrected  upon  the 
Fall  of  his  Empire  in  1204. 
.    *^  Recueil  des  Ordonnances,  torn,  i,  p.  51. 


io8 


CHAPTER  X. 

TRIAL     BY     JURY. 

The  jury  system  was  unknown  to  Oriental  nations — It  arose  with  liberty  in  Greece 
and  fell  with  liberty  in  Rome — Juries  of  Ten — of  Twelve — The  system  was  subverted 
by  the  patricians  and  ecclesiastics  during  the  reign  of  Sylla — Destroyed  by  Julius  Caesar 
— Imperial  Assessores — Ecclesiastical  Compurgatores — Resuscitation  of  the  jury  sys- 
tem after  the  Fall  of  the  Sacred  Empire. 

THE  essence  of  the  Jury  System  is  the  determination  of  questions 
of  fact, arising  in  courts  of  law, by  a  body  of  citizens,  of  the  same 
political  rank  as  the  litigants,  or  the  accused,  such  citizens  not  being 
permanent  magistrates  and  returning  to  the  body  of  the  people,  when 
their  work  is  done.  Its  origin  is  to  be  found  in  the  dicasts  of  Athens, 
appointed  under  the  institutes  of  Solon.  When  the  Roman  Common- 
wealth arose,  that  is  to  say,  a  little  more  than  a  century  after  the  cera 
of  Solon,  the  jury  system  was  transplanted  into  the  constitution  of 
that  rising  state ;  and  there  it  remained  until  the  downfall  of  freedom. 
It  was  in  the  consulship  of  Publicola,  A. U.  245,  that  the  citizen  was 
accorded  the  right  to  appeal  from  the  decision  of  a  magistrate, which 
at  that  period  meant  a  patrician,  to  the  judgment  of  his  peers  in  the 
comitia, '  and  this  provision  is  regarded  as  the  basis  of  the  Roman  sys- 
tem of  trial  by  jury.  At  first  only  important  cases  were  thus  appealed, 
and  the  jury  consisted  of  the  whole  comitia,  at  that  time  the  Cent- 
uriata.  When  the  state  became  more  populous  and  jury  cases  more 
numerous,  the  comitia,  now  the  Tributa,  appears  to  have  relegated 
all  appeals,  except  those  of  a  political  or  of  a  probate  character,  to 
the  Centuriata.  This  body  proved  false  to  the  trust.  It  selected  as 
judices  three  hundred  of  its  own  number,  including  among  them  many 
of  senatorial  rank,  and  thus  altered  the  basis  of  the  system.  For  the 
hearing  of  ordinary  cases  ten  jurymen  were  drawn  from  the  three 
hundred,  and  panels  of  such  jurors  appear  to  have  been  attached  to 
the  various  courts,  at  least  such  seems  to  have  been  the  case  about 

^  Livy,  II,  8;  Plutarch,  in  Publicola.  The  right  to  be  tried  for  capital  offences  before 
the  Comitia  appears  in  the  Twelve  Tables. 


TRIAL    BY    JURY.  1 09 

A.  U.  604.  Like  the  dicasts  of  Athens,  the  jury  were  summoned  by 
prsecones,  or  criers;  ^  the  jury  occupied  in  the  court-room  a  seat  by 
themselves  situated  below  the  tribunal  of  the  praetor,  and  called  sub- 
sellia;  '  they  were  addressed  by  pleaders, as  '  'Gentlemen  of  the  Jury ;"  * 
they  retired  to  consult  upon  their  verdict;  they  voted  by  ballots,  of 
which  in  criminal  cases,  there  were  three  sorts,  inscribed  respectively, 
Guilty,  Not  Guilty,  and  not  Proven;  they  had  a  foreman,  princeps; 
they  took  an  oath  before  each  trial  to  be  governed  in  their  verdict 
only  by  the  evidence  adduced  before  them;  and  the  accused,  or  the 
defendant,  was  allowed  to  challenge  and  reject  a  certain  number, 
whose  places  were  filled  up  from  the  panel.  The  period,  when  the  num- 
bers which  composed  a  petty  jury  was  changed  from  ten  to  twelve, 
is  uncertain,  probably  after  the  Decemvirate.  The  term  of  service 
for  jurymen  was  one  year  and  they  were  not  obliged  to  serve  during 
the  holidays,  or  New  Year's  festivals.^ 

About  the  year  A.  U.  513,  the  Tributa,  without  relinquishing  its 
privilege  to  try  political  cases  or  appeals  by  a  jury  of  the  whole  house, 
referred  all  cases  concerning  testaments  and  inheritance,  or  as  we 
would  now  call  them,  probate  cases,  to  a  panel  consisting  of  three 
citizens  chosen  from  each  of  the  thirty-five  tribes,  therefore, strictly 
speaking,  105  in  all.  These  were  called  centumviri,  and  the  causes 
that  came  before  them,  causae  centumvirales.  Their  number  was  af- 
terward increased  to  180.*  Kennett,  p.  136,  is  of  opinion  that  out  of 
this  body  were  drawn  the  arbitri  and  recuperatores.  From  the  de- 
cision of  a  centumviral  jury  there  was  no  appeal. 

Under  these  arrangements  most  of  the  jury  trials  came  to  be  de- 
cided by  the  patricians  and  influenced  by  the  ecclesiatics,  a  result  that 
gave  rise  to  frequent  exhibitions  of  popular  dissatisfaction.  It  essen- 
tially overthrew  the  ancient  institute  of  Publicola  and  delivered  the 
citizen  not  to  the  judgement  of  his  peers,  but  to  the  hereditary  ene- 
mies of  liberty.  Tacitus,  himself  a  patrician  and  a  priest,  informs  us 
that  this  subject  was  for  ages  the  cause  of  civil  commotion  in  the 
Roman  state,  until  it  was  setted  by  the  lex  Sempronia,  A.  U.  632.  By 
virtue  of  this  law  a  Roman  citizen  could  only  be  tried  for  his  life  by 
the  comitia,  whose  jurymen  were  to  be  drawn  altogether  from  the 
equites,  a  middle  rank  of  citizens,  open  to  any  person  of  respecta- 

*  The  criers  (praecones)  were  also  organized  in  bodies  of  ten  (decurise).  Adam,  147. 
3  Suet.,  Nero,  17.  ''Cic.,  Orat.  *Suet.,  in  Galba,  14. 

*  Pliny's  Letters,  vi,  23.  The  Julian  court  appears  to  have  been  a  centumviral,  or 
probate  court,  and  may  have  been  the  prototype  of  the  curia  regis,  or  king's  bench,  of 
Augustus. 


IIO  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

bility  and  means.'  This  was  not  the  restoration  of  Publicola's system, 
but  a  compromise,  the  best  that  the  people  could  then  obtain. 

The  lex  Servilia,  A.U.  648,  increased  the  number  of  citizens  avail- 
^able  as  jurymen  to  450,  by  adding  150  of  the  patrician  class;  the  lex 
Glaucia,  A.  U.  653,  again  limited  these  450  to  the  equites;  the  lex 
Livius,  A.U.  662,  increased  the  number  to  600,  by  adding  150 of  the 
patrician  class;  by  a  subsequent  law  this  additional  number  was  com- 
pelled to  be  drawn  from  the  equites  only ;  while  the  lex  Plautius,  A.  U. 
664, limited  the  whole  number  to  525  citizens  drawn  from  the  patrician, 
equestrian  and  plebeian  orders,  though  in  what  proportion,  we  are 
not  advised.  Cicero,  who  is  our  informant  in  this  matter,  merely  says 
that  fifteen  citizens  were  drawn  from  each  tribe.  We  have  multiplied 
this  number  by  the  whole  number  of  tribes,  but  it  is  possible  that  all 
the  tribes  were  not  permitted  to  supply  jurymen  and  therefore  that 
the  whole  number  was  less  than  that  assumed  above. 

With  the  triumph  of  Sylla's  arms,  the  jury  system,  together  with 
many  other  institutes  of  freedom,  received  a  fatal  blow.  By  the  lex 
Cornelia,  A.  U.  672,  he  reduced  the  jurymen  to  300  selecti,  drawn 
exclusively  from  the  senatorial  class.  This  law  made  them  practically 
what  would  now  be  called  justices,  rather  than  jurymen.  They  were 
no  longer  called  upon  to  decide  merely  the  fact,  but  also  the  law; 
they  were  no  longer  drawn  from  the  same  rank  as  the  accused,  or 
defendant,  but  were  all  aristocrats  and  possessors  of  great  estates; 
they  no  longer  received  legal  instructions  from  the  praetor,  but  con- 
sulted and  cooperated  with  him  as  equals;  indeed  many  of  them  were 
professional  lawyers  and  advocates,  and,  as  can  be  seen  from  several 
coins  of  the  period,  they  sat  upon  the  same  bench  as  the  praetor. 

With  this  enlargement  of  function  they  seem  to  have  acquired  the 
name  of  assessores.  Dr.  Adam  very  correctly  renders  the  assessores 
into  the  consilium,  or  the  counsellors,  or  council,  of  the  praetor;  but 
is  he  also  correct  in  supposing  that  while  the  assessores  sat  upon  the 
bench  with  the  praetor,  a  jury,  (judices,)  sat  on  the  subsellia  below? 
This  seems  to  us  like  mingling  or  confusing  the  customs  of  different 
ages.  Pliny,  the  Younger,  writes  to  Cornelius  Tacitus;  *  "  It  has  fre- 
quently been  my  province  to  act  both  as  an  advocate  and  a  judex, 
and  I  have  often  also  attended  as  an  assessore ;  "  thus  apparently  dis- 
tinguishing between  them  and  assigning  them  to  different  periods  of 
his  life.   Yet  the  passage  is  neither  clear  nor  conclusive.    In  a  letter 

'  Tac. ,  Annals,  xii,  60.  Montesquieu  evidently  had  this  passage  in  mind  when  he  said 
that  in  the  wars  between  Marius  and  Sylla  the  composition  of  juries  formed  the  chief 
bone  of  contention.  *  Letters,  i,  20, 


TRIAL    BY    JURY.  Ill 

to  Rufus,  he  says:  "  I  lately  attended  our  excellent  emperor  (Trajan) 
as  one  of  his  assessores,  hi  a  cause  wherein  he  himself  presided. "  *  *  * 
"When  the  opinions  of  the  assessores  was  taken**  *  it  was  decided," 
€tc."  But  not  a  word  about  any  jury.  It  is  true  that  Pliny's  evidence 
is  of  a  negative  character,  and  that  it  relates  to  a  period  nearly  two 
centuries  later  than  Sylla;  yet  nevertheless  it  may  throw  some  light 
upon  this  point.  Possibly  in  the  transition  from  the  jury  system  of 
the  Commonwealth  to  the  assessore  system  of  the  empire,  there  was 
an  interval,  when,  indeed,  ten  (or  twelve)  judices  sat  upon  the  sub- 
sellia,  but  bereft  of  any  more  important  function  than  that  ot  deter- 
mining such  questions,  special  issues,  as  might  be  put  to  them  by  the 
bench  ;  or,  like  the  assessores  of  the  exisiting  British  admiralty  courts, 
the  older  system  may  for  a  time,  have  overlapped  the  newer. 

Thelex  Cottia,  A.U.683,drewtheselecti  from  thesenators,equites, 
and  tribuni  aerarii;  the  lex  Licinia,  or  Aurelia,  A.  U.  698,  drew  a  jury, 
in  cases  of  bribery  at  elections,  from  the  people  at  large,  ex  omni 
populo;  '"  but  as  such  cases,  that  is  to  say,  wherein  the  bribery  was 
susceptible  of  proof,  must  have  been  comparatively  rare,"  this  can- 
not be  regarded  as  any  substantial  renewal  of  the  jury  system.  In 
A.  U.  702,  the  number  of  the  selecti  was  still  300,  as  appears  by  a 
resolution  of  the  senate  preserved  verbatim  in  a  letter  of  Marcus 
Coelius  to  Cicero. "'  It  also  appears  that  a  number  of  them  were  also 
members  of  the  senate.  In  the  same  year  Pompey  increased  the  num- 
ber of  selecti  to  360  and  probably  made  some  popular  concessions 
toward  a  return  of  the  old  system,  which  concessions  were  repealed 
after  his  tragic  death. 

Julius  Csesar  limited  the  selecti  to  the  senatorial  and  equestrian  or- 
ders,'^ drawing  three  decurise,  each  of  a  different  class  of  fortunes, 
from  each  tribe.  Marc  Antony,  in  A.  U.  710,  increased  the  number 
of  selecti  by  drawing  a  supplementary  panel  from  the  centurions  of 
the  army. '^  Augustus  added  a  fourth  decuria  from  each  tribe,  con- 
sisting of  a  class  called  ducenarii,  because  the  official  value  of 
their  estates  was  only  200,000  sesterces,  or  half  that  of  an  equite; 
and  he  reduced  the  age  of  eligibility  from  25  to  20  years.  The  ap- 
peals which  formerly  were  decided  by  a  jury  of  the  Centuriata,  he  re- 
ferred to  the  decision  of  the  praetor;  and  he,  or  his  divine  predecessor, 
constituted  a  curia  regis,  or  court  of  king's  bench,  in  which  the  sov- 

'  Pliny's  Letters,  iv,  22.   See  also  on  this  subject,  Letters,  vi,  22,  and  vi,  31. 
">Cic.,  Plane,  17. 

"  Pliny  says  that  political  bribery  was  now  carried  on  "  with  more  secresy."  Letters, 
VI,  19.  '•  Letters,  II,  4.  '^  Suet.,  Jul.,  41.  '■*  Cic,  Phil.,  1  and  v. 


112  ANCIKNT    liRlTAIN. 

ereign  liimsclf  sat  in  judgment  in  important  cases,  assisted  by  a  con- 
cilium or  bench  of  assessores. '^  This  is  the  kind  of  court  mentioned 
by  Pliny.  Its  establishment  practically  marks  the  downfall  of  the  jury 
system. 

Some  allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  mingling  of  customs 
belonging  to  different  ages,  which  possibly  pertains  to  Dr.  Adam's  ac- 
count of  the  Roman  system  of  judices.  This  remark  may  with  equal 
justice  be  applied  to  the  accounts  of  the  Romans  themselves.  The 
number  of  judices  in  a  panel,  the  number  drawn  from  a  panel,  and 
the  number  of  tribes  from  which  they  were  drawn,  all  belong  to  dif- 
ferent ages,  yet  the  Roman  historians  never  noticed  this  circumstance. 
For  example,  the  number  300  has  a  sacerdotal  significance  and  it  be- 
longs to  the  remotest  age  of  Rome.  During  the  best  ages  of  the  Com- 
monwealth it  was  disregarded.  When  the  Commonwealth  was  about 
to  expire  superstition  had  resumed  its  sway  and  the  ancient  sacerdotal 
number  of  selecti  was  reinstated  in  the  institutes  of  the  dying  repub- 
lic. The  number  of  tribes,  35,  also  belongs  to  an  early  period  of 
Roman  history,  when  that  number  agreed  with  the  days  of  the  month 
and  the  pantheon  of  the  minor  gods.  Yet  it  was  retained  long  after 
it  had  lost  all  significance.  On  the  change  from  10  to  12  jurymen  we 
have  already  offered  an  opinion.  With  these  mysteries  we  have  at 
present  no  concern,  further  than  to  suggest  them  as  illustrations  of 
the  confusion  into  which  the  evolution  of  its  religious  belief  threw 
many  of  the  institutes  of  Rome  and  the  resulting  difficulties  which 
have  attended  the  efforts  of  modern  historians  and  antiquarians  to 
describe  such  institutes  with  precision. 

It  is  essential  to  again  remark,  in  respect  of  trial  by  jury,  that  it 
was  totally  unknown  to  the  Orient.  Neither  the  Hindus,  Chinese, 
Taters,  Persians,  Assyrians,  Hebrews,  nor  Egyptians  possessed  any 
such  institute,  nor  do  their  descendents,  to  this  day.  It  was  born  with 
Grecian  and  perished  with  Roman  liberty;  and  was  only  resuscitated 
when  the  hierarchy,  which  had  crushed  out  that  liberty,  was  itself  over- 
thrown. 

•*Suet.,  Aug.,  32. 


1^3 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  WRIT  OF  HABEAS  CORPUS. 

Its  origin  in  Greece — In  Rome — Its  abolition  during  the  Hierarchy — Its  resuscita- 
tion after  the  Fall  of  Constantinople — Subsequent  history. 

THIS  is  a  writ  which  compels  any  person  who  has  been  deprived  of 
his  liberty,  to  be  brought  before  a  public  magistrate,  in  order 
that  it  may  be  determined  whether  or  not  he  has  been  lawfully  im- 
prisoned. The  origin  of  this  writ  is  commonly  traced  to  the  Middle 
Ages.  In  fact  it  may  be  traced  to  the  cera  of  Solon  and  the  Athenian 
republic,  when  "the  rights  of  citizenship,  representation  in  the  legis- 
lature, trial  by  jury,  (dicasts,)  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  marriage 
laws,  and  many  other  institutes  of  freedom  and  civilization  "  were  se- 
cured to  the  people.' 

In  Rome,  A.  U.  259,  B.  C.  495,  on  the  ides,  or  middle  day  of  May, 
now  called  Whitsuntide, a  temple  to  Liber  Pater  (Bacchus)  was  erected 
near  the  Circus  Maximus,  probably  to  commemorate  the  passage  of 
an  act  which  we  now  perceive  to  have  resembled  the  modern  Habeas 
Corpus.  Anciently  the  Roman  creditor  had  the  right  to  seize  and  im- 
prison the  person  of  his  debtor.  In  that  year,  owing  to  certain  affect- 
ing circumstances,  which  are  narrated  by  Livy,  the  Consul  issued  an 
edict  that  "  no  person  should  hold  any  Roman  citizen  in  bonds  or  con- 
finement, so  as  to  hinder  his  being  brought  before  the  Consuls."  ^  Who 
can  doubt  the  essential  resemblance  between  this  law  and  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  ? 

In  A.  U.  429,  B.  C.  325,  the  phraseology  of  this  important  law  was 
made  broader.  The  Psetelian  law  made  it  a  misdemeanor  to  detain 
any  person  in  custody  or  confinement  unless  as  a  punishment  for  crime 
and  after  lawful  conviction.^ 

Finally,  in  A.  U.  632,  B.  C.  122,  the  Sempronian  law  provided  that 
no  sentence  should  be  passed  upon  a  Roman  citizen  unless  by  virtue 
of  law  or  warrant  of  the  Comitia. "  The  safeguards  which  these  various. 

'  "The  Worship  of  Augustus  Caesar,"  sub  anno,  B.  C.  592. 

*  Ibid,  p.  147.  2  Livy,  vin,  28.  '*  Cicero  pro  Rabir.,  4. 


114  ANCIENT    URIIAIN. 

enactments  threw  around  the  citizen  were  even  more  complete  than 
those  furnished  by  the  medieval  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus.  Tiiey  not  oniy 
provided  that  the  prisoner  should  be  brought  before  a  magistrate  to 
determine  whether  he  had  been  lawfully  imprisoned  or  not;  they  pro- 
vided a  severe  penalty  for  unlawful  detention,  a  penalty  that  under 
the  Sempronian  law  would  have  reached  the  magistrate  himself. 

It  will  be  observed  that  by  the  Pa^telian  Law  it  was  a  misdemeanor 
to  detain  any  person  in  custody  or  confinement,  unless  as  a  punishment 
for  crime  and  after  lawful  conviction ;  and  that  by  the  Sempronian  Law, 
no  sentence  could  be  passed  upon  a  Roman  citizen,  unless  by  virtue 
of  the  law,  or  warrant  of  the  Comitia.  These  laws,  especially  the  for- 
mer one,  were  designed  to  protect  the  personal  liberty  of  the  citizen 
and  to  shield  him  from  unlawful  detention  or  imprisonment.  Such  was 
also  thedesignof  that  clause  in  Magna  Charta  which  provides  that  "no 
man  shall  be  taken  or  imprisoned  but  by  the  lawful  judgment  of  his 
peers,  or  by  the  law  of  the  land."  Between  these  dates  there  elapsed 
more  than  thirteen  centuries  of  time,  there  were  held  more  than  thir- 
teen hundred  ecclesiastical  convocations  and  other  councils,  but  there 
was  no  law  to  protect  the  person  from  unlawful  seizure  or  imprison- 
ment. Such  an  institute  will  besought  for  in  vain  among  barbarian  or 
hierarchical  constitutions.  Like  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  Jury 
system,  it  arose  out  of  the  actual  experience  of  a  free  people,  it  belonged 
to  seras  of  political  liberty,  it  was  lost  in  the  long  and  horrible  night  of 
pontifical  ascendancy,  it  was  found  when  that  darkness  disappeared. 
The  hierarchy  fell  in  1204;   Magna  Charta  was  granted  in  1215,^ 

Observe  the  difference  between  an  actual  and  an  imaginary  Com- 
monwealth. These  institutes  of  Greece  and  Rome,  though  deprived 
of  nourishment  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  have  all  sprung  up 
again  and  flourish  to-day.  Those  of  the  Judean  poets,  though  planted 
in  Asia,  in  Europe,  in  New  England,  in  Paraguay, have  rarely,  no  matter 
upon  what  occasion,  or  with  whatever  assistance,  enjoyed  more  than 
a  sickly  growth  of  a  few  years. 

The  argument  that  the  House  of  Commons  arose  out  of  the  witen- 
agemote,  originated  in  the  church,  whence  it  was  carried  into  the  uni- 
versities, over  all  of  which  the  Church  exercised  a  jealous  supervision. 
From  the  universities  it  flowed  out  into  the  pages  of  those  historians 
whom  the  universities  have  furnished  to  the  modern  world.  In  a 
similar  manner,  the  jury  system  was  traced  to  the  compurgators  of 
the  canon  law,  and  the  principle  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  act  to  some 

^  A  Habeas  Corpus  act  was  passed  by  the  Senate  of  Venice  and  became  the  law  of 
that  Commonwealth  in  A,  D.  1275.   Hazlitt's  "  Venice,"  ed.  185S,  11,  411. 


THK    WKir    OF    HAIJKAS    CORPUS.  II5 

remote  and  undefined  ordinance  of  the  dark  ages.  But  no  such  tree 
ever  bore  such  fruit.  Let  it  be  understood  that  to  attribute  these  in- 
stitutes to  the  dark  or  the  medieval  ages,  is  to  attribute  them  to  the 
Hierarchy;  because  during  the  whole  of  those  periods  the  Hierarchy  " 
ruled  supreme.  Let  it  be  understood  that  during  these  periods  the 
•commons  were  slaves,  the  courts  of  law  were  the  dungeons  and  torture- 
chambers  of  the  Inquisition,  and  that  the  persons,  not  merely  of  com- 
moners, but  of  kings,  were  buried  alive,  in  conventual  tombs,  at  pleasure 
of  some  of  the  most  blasphemous  and  murderous  tyrants  the  world 
ever  saw.  Finally,  let  it  be  understood  that  to  clothe  the  detested 
laws  and  devices  of  these  tyrants  in  the  fair  garb  of  free  institutes, 
is  to  hide  from  posterity  the  danger  of  their  re-enactment  and  expose 
it  to  the  insidious  advances  of  another  race  of  hierarchs. "  When  these 
things  are  understood,  the  arguments  which  have  been  brought  for- 
ward to  sustain  the  ecclesiastical  view  of  the  origin  of  legislatures, 
juries,  and  laws  to  protect  the  person,  will  die  the  miserable  death 
they  deserve. 

^  ' '  The  commission  appointed  to  consider  the  means  to  be  adopted  for  checking  the 
spread  of  Stundism  in  the  south  of  Russia  recommends  that  all  religious  assemblies  or 
meetings  of  the  sect  be  forbidden,  since  they  are  calculated  to  promote  false  teaching 
and  to  promote  a  state  of  nervous  exaltation  among  the  ignorant  classes  of  the  people, 
It  is  also  proposed  that  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  compel  those  who  are  suffering 
from  undue  religious  excitement  to  enter  a  monastery,  where  they  may  be  confined  un- 
til they  are  restored  to  a  healthier  and  more  normal  state."  St.  Petersburgh  despatch, 
in  London  Daily  Chronicle,  September  6th.  1S92. 


n6 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    PREROGATIVE    OF    MONEY. 

Early  Roman  monetary  systems — Numerical  System  of  B.C.  385 — Prosperity  of  the 
republic — Dissatisfaction  of  the  patricians — Alexander's  plunder  of  Asia — Metallic 
flood — Profits  of  Oriental  trade — Attacks  upon  the  Numerical  system — Adoption  of  a 
"  Species  "system — Decline  of  the  metallic  flood— Distress  in  Rome — Theory  of  Money 
— Punic  wars—Conquest  of  Greece — Distress  relieved — Rise  of  prices — Halcyon  Age — 
Dwindling  of  metallic  resources — Renewal  of  distress — Gentes,  or  private-coinage  sys- 
tem, copied  from  Greece — This  device  arrests  the  decline  which,  however,  is  soon  re- 
newed— Civil  Wars — End  of  the  republic — Monetary  systems  of  the  Empire — Fall  of 
the  Empire  in  A.D.  1204 — Assertion  of  the  Roman  prerogative  of  money  by  the  Christ- 
ian kings  of  Europe— Review  of  the  Prerogative — Its  descent  traced  from  ancient  Rome 
to  modern  Britain. 

ACCORDING  to  the  latest  researches  into  the  antiquities  of  Rome, 
the  monetary  systems  which  it  employed  before  the  Gaulish  In- 
vasion were:  First,  the  ace  grave,  with  leather  notes  to  represent  the 
ingots;  Second,  the  ace  signatum;  and  Third,  the  silver  (and  copper) 
coin  system  mentioned  by  Varro  in  Charisius,  the  silver  coins  called 
denarii,  weighing  each  about  118  English  grains;  specimens  of  them 
being  still  extant.  These  researches  also  disclose  the  fact  that  Pliny 
wrote  in  ignorance  of  the  early  monetary  systems  of  his  country,  from 
which  it  may  be  further  inferred  that  the  most  ancient  Roman  coinage 
laws  were  no  longer  extant  in  his  day.  As  these  laws  have  not  even 
yet  come  to  light,  we  have  no  means  to  determine  precisely  under 
what  conditions  or  circumstances  the  earlier  Roman  coinages  were 
issued.  There  is, however, reason  to  believe  that  the  "Romano  "  silver 
coins,  which  appear  to  have  been  included  in  the  system  alluded  to  by 
Varro,  were  issued  upon  somewhat  the  same  plan  as  are  our  gold  coina 
at  the  present  time;  they  were  manufactured  by  the  State,  probably 
upon  a  "retinue,"  or  seigniorage,  but  at  the  request  and  pleasure  of 
private  individuals,  who  melted  them  down  or  else  exported  them  to 
foreign  countries  whenever  they  would  fetch  more  as  bullion  than  they 
cost  as  coins,  or  whenever  they  would  purchase  more  commodities 
abroad  than  at  home. 


thp:  prerogative  of  money.  117 

About  the  period  of  the  Gaulish  Invasion,  B.  C.  385,  the  extension 
of  the  Roman  domain,  the  excellence  of  the  Roman  roads,  the  facility 
of  travel  and  intercommunication  throughout  all  parts  of  the  Republic, 
and  the  organization  of  credit,  rendered  the  Roman  coins  so  efficient 
an  instrument  of  exchange  that  to  leave  their  emission  and  subsequent 
destruction  or  exportation  any  longer  subject  to  the  pleasure  of  private 
individuals, imperilled  the  welfare  of  society  and  thesafety  of  theState. 
At  all  events,  laws  were  evidently  enacted  at  this  juncture  which 
worked  a  most  notable  change  in  the  monetary  system  of  the  Republic. 
These  laws  are  described  at  length  in  the  author's  "  History  of  Money 
in  Ancient  States." 

In  effect,  the  Roman  Republic  resumed  its  ancient  prerogative  of 
Money;  it  stopped  the  fabrication  of  coins  for  private  account;  it  re- 
tired the  outstanding  issues,  and  established  an  entirely  new  system 
of  money,  consisting  of  over-valued  bronze  coins,  called  «/////;;z/,  which 
were  struck  by  the  government  only  for  itself.  The  value  of  these 
nummi  was  preserved  by  limiting  their  emission  to  a  fixed  sum. 

Systems  of  this  character,  called  Numerical  systems,  had  been  tried, 
with  more  or  less  success,  in  certain  states  of  the  Orient,  also  in  Spar- 
ta, Byzantium,  Clazomenae,  and  Athens.  The  great  teachers  of  phil- 
osophy and  politics,  such  as  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Zeno,  had 
written  upon  the  subject  of  Numerical  systems  of  money ;  while  Plato, 
the  most  revered  of  them  all,  had  recommended  such  a  system  for  his 
Ideal  Republic.  Whatever  diverse  opinions  were  held  in  Rome  as  to 
the  substance  of  which  the  tokens  or  symbols  of  money  should  best 
be  made,  whether  of  gold,  silver,  or  bronze,  or  of  all  combined,  or 
whether  the  issues  should  be  convertible  or  not,  it  seems  to  have  been 
determined  by  the  Comitia  Tributa,  which  at  this  period  was  supreme, 
that  the  safety  of  the  Republic  was  imperilled  by  the  control  which 
individuals  had  previously  exercised  over  the  coinage;  and  that  in 
order  to  avoid  this  peril  it  had  become  necessary  for  the  State,  that 
is  to  say  the  people,  as  represented  in  the  Comitia,  to  take  the  emis- 
sions of  money  into  its  own  hands. 

For  the  sake  of  rendering  it  familiar  to  the  reader,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  Numerical  or  Nummulary  system  of  republican  Rome  was 
rudely  reflected  in  the  Greenback  system  of  the  United  States  of  Ame- 
rica, 1862-78.  In  the  Roman  system  the  greenbacks,  or  nummi,  were 
printed,  that  is  to  say  stamped,  on  bronze;  the  metal  being  worth 
only  about  one-fifth  of  the  value  expressed  in  legal  denominations  as- 
signed to  and  stamped  upon  each  piece.  The  government  alone  issued 
the  nummi.   In  order  to  defeat  counterfeiting,  the  copper  mines  were 


Il8  ANCIENT    liKITAIN. 

monopolized  by  the  State;  the  commerce  in  copper  and  tin  was  regu- 
lated; the  designs  for  the  issues  of  nummi  were  of  great  artistic 
beauty;  the  emissions  were  limited;  the  pieces  were  stamped  S.  C, 
or  ex  Sciiatus  Consulto;  and  they  were  made  the  sole  legal  tenders  for 
the  payment  of  taxes,  contracts,  fines,  and  debts.  In  the  American 
greenback  system  the  emissions  were  not  limited  constitutionally,  but 
only  by  Congress;  they  were  not  the  sole  legal-tenders  issued  by  the 
government,  because  customs-duties  and  interest  on  the  public  debt 
were  allowed,  and  indeed  required,  to  be  paid  in  coins;  and  the  law 
authorizing  the  issue  of  greenbacks  was  not  so  clear  in  regard  to  their 
inconvertibility  as  to  avoid  dispute  on  this  point — a  dispute  that  ended 
with  their  being  gratuitously  rendered  convertible. 

The  Roman  system  of  nummi  continued  in  successful  use  for  nearly 
a  century,  during  which  interval  Rome  rose  from  the  condition  of  an 
obscure  state  to  that  of  the  Mistress  of  all  Italy.  But  such  general 
prosperity  did  not  satisfy  the  patrician  class.  They  wanted  the  pros- 
perity, but  they  wanted  it  for  themselves  alone,  and  were  unwilling 
to  share  it  with  the  people  at  large,  because  such  communism  deprived 
them  of  the  wealth  and  social  distinction  they  coveted.  As  the  num- 
mulary system  stood  in  the  way  of  these  aspirations,  they  condemned, 
attacked,  undermined,  and  eventually  overthrew  it;  and  that,  too,  with 
the  ignorant  acquiescence  of  the  very  people  at  large  whose  welfare 
it  had  so  signally  advanced  and  whose  liberties  it  had  conserved. 

The  movement  for  the  overthrow  of  the  nummulary  system  was 
greatly  favored  by  the  Oriental  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great  and 
the  immense  quantities  of  the  precious  metals  which  these  conquests 
yielded  to  Macedon  and  the  contiguous  Greek  States  and  their  col- 
onies, including  Magna  Grsecia  in  Italy.  These  countries  were 
flooded  with  the  coins  of  the  conqueror,  which  even  to  this  day  are 
not  so  rare  as  are  American  coins  of  the  last  century.  From  Magna 
Graecia  the  coins  of  Alexander  soon  made  their  way  to  Rome,  where 
their  superior  convenience  over  the  nummi  for  the  payment  of  large 
sums  must  have  recommended  them  to  favour.  The  immense  profits 
which  were  to  be  made  both  before  and  during  this  period,  by  ex- 
changing European  silver  for  Asiatic  gold,  could  scarcely  have  been 
without  influence  in  encouraging  a  return  to  "species  "  payments.  In 
connection  with  a  period  so  early  as  B.  C.  357  Livy  alludes  to  an 
aurum  vicesimarium,  which  appears  to  have  been  a  tax  upon  imported 
gold.  These  circumstances  blinded  the  Romans  to  the  mischievous, 
the  retrogressive  tendencies  of  Barter,  for  such  is  the  nature  of  a 
"species  "  system,  when  unsupported  by  fiduciary  issues.    The  grow- 


THE    PREROGATIVE    OF    MONEY.  IK) 

ing  power  of  the  Senate  and  waning  power  of  the  Comitia  at  this  period 
lent  facility  to  tlie  proposed  change.  The  patricians  saw  what  seemed 
to  them  an  advantage  over  the  commons,  and  they  seized  a  favourable 
moment  to  grasp  it. 

In  B.C.  317  was  enacted  the  monetary  law  of  Ogulniusand  Fabius, 
which  erected  a  species  system  of  gold,  silver  and  bronze  coins,  based 
upon  a  silver  sesterce  of  18. 229  English  grains,  of  which  sesterces,8o 
went  to  the  gold  aureus  of  145.833  grains,  a  weight-ratio  of  silver  to 
gold  equal  to  10  for  i.  This  system  may  have  been  permissive  and 
not  compulsory,  or  it  may  have  been  in  some  manner  coupled  with 
the  Nummulary  system,  so  as  to  conceal  the  radical  nature  of  the 
change.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  eventually  superseded  the  Nummulary 
altogether  and  thus  transferred  the  Prerogative  of  Money  (for  this 
was  the  real  object  aimed  at  and  achieved)  from  the  supervision  of 
the  Comitia  to  that  of  the  Senate,  in  other  words,  from  the  hands  of 
the  people  to  those  of  the  patricians. 

So  long  as  the  flood  of  precious  metals  from  the  Orient  and  the 
Greek  states  continued  to  pour  into  Rome,  the  evil  effects  of  surren- 
dering the  Prerogative  of  Money  were  not  perceived.   The  moment 
when  this  flood  ceased  and  especially  when  the  flood  became  a  flux, 
which  it  did  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  third  century  before  our 
sera,  then  there  arose  from  the  people  cries  of  regret,  distress  and 
apprehension.   The  language  of  Pliny,  where  he  condemns  those  who 
introduced  gold  and  silver  into  the  money  of  Rome,  of  having  com- 
mitted a  Crime  against  Mankind,  was  not  justified  by  any  circum- 
stances relating  to  the  money  of  his  own  time;  it  must  have  beerk 
copied  from  some  chronicler  of  an  earlier  period,  probably  from  Tim- 
aeus,  who  wrote  about  B.C.  290,  a  period  when  the  retreating  tide  of 
metallic  money  left  the  wreck  of  the  neglected  Prerogative  exposed  to 
view.    If  applied  to  that  period  the  condemnation  was  essentially  just ; 
yet  the  Crime  was  not  so  much  in  substituting  gold  and  silver  tokens 
for  bronze  tokens,  as  in  substituting  gold  and  silver  mefa/  for  bronze 
money ;  in  substituting  Commodities,  which  could  be  coined  up  and 
melted  down  by  their  individual  owners  at  pleasure  and  with  little  or 
no  loss,  in  the  place  of  Money,  which  could  not  thus  be  treated  with- 
out great  and  irreparable  loss;  in  supplementing  the  bronze  nummi, 
which  under  State  regulation  formed  a  fixed  and  known  proportion 
of  the  whole  currency,  with  gold  and  silver  pieces,  the  latter  being 
amenable  to  private  control  and  bearing  no  fixed  or  known  propor- 
tion to  the  Volume  of  money  employed  in  the  exchanges.   The  Crime 
against  Mankind  was  in  depriving  the  state  of  its  Prerogative  of 


I20  ANCIKNT     I'.RITAIN. 

.Money,  to  bestow  it  upon  a  favoured  class  of  the  population.  It  was 
the  same  crime  that  in  1666  Charles  II.  committed  in  England  and  in 
1 790  Alexander  Hamilton  committed  in  the  United  States  by  recom- 
mending his  government  to  adopt  the  system  of  Charles  II. 

Nations  may  grow  rich  with  a  Barter  system;  (and  let  it  be  under- 
stood that  the  gratuitous  or  nearly  gratuitous  and  unlimited  coinage 
of  money,  when  coupled  with  free  meltage  and  export,  whether  the 
coins  are  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  or  any  other  metal,  and  when  un- 
supported by  fiduciary  issues,  must  result  in  simple  Barter  for  the 
metal  thus  coined ;)  but  such  wealth  cannot  become  equitably  diffused 
among  the  productive  classes.  It  will  inevitably  become  congested; 
and  for  the  most  part  it  will  gravitate  not  towards  merit  and  indus- 
try, but  towards  combination,  conspiracy  and  idleness.  The  Messiah 
declared  that  the  rich  could  not  hope  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  heaven, 
not  merely  because  they  were  rich,  but  evidently  because, as  the  laws 
then  stood,  and  it  may  be  added,  as  they  now  again  stand,  wealth  was 
too  often  gained  unworthily. 

Moreover,  the  wealth  that  is  gained  under  legal  enactments  which 
rob  the  state  of  its  Prerogative  of  Money  (that  is  to  say,  enactments 
which  permit  gratuitous  and  unlimited  coinage,  free  meltage,  unre- 
stricted exportation,  etc. ,)  is  a  petty  wealth  compared  with  what  would 
accrue  from  commerce  and  exchange  when  not  hampered  by  such  en- 
actments. For  the  sake  of  illustration,  let  it  be  supposed  that  with  a 
gratuitously  coined,  unlimited  metallic  currency  of  1000  millions,  (of 
any  denomination)  having  a  velocity  in  the  exchanges  of  once  a  week, 
is  coupled  a  mass  of  credits,  which,  when  reduced  to  a  like  velocity 
of  once  a  week,  would  amount  to  another  1000  millions,  total  2000 
millions.  Upon  this  hypothesis,  the  sum  of  exchanges,  at  50  weeks 
to  the  year,  would  necessarily  amount  to  100  thousand  millions.  Let 
us  further  assume  that  the  net  profits  on  these  exchanges  were  5  per 
cent  and  that  the  just  proportion  of  such  profits  accruing  respectively 
to  capital  and  labour  was  each  one-half.  It  would  follow  that  each 
would  receive  2500  millions. 

Now  a  gratuitous  and  unlimited  coinage  is  subject  to  this  grave  de- 
fect: it  is  liable  to  be  suddenly  and  greatly  augmented  by  accessions 
from  the  mines,  or  by  importations  from  abroad;  to  say  nothing  of 
treasure-trove,  melted  plate,  etc.  It  is  on  the  other  hand,  liable  to 
be  suddenly  and  greatly  diminished  by  melting,  hoarding,  absorption 
in  the  arts,  or  exportations  of  bullion  to  foreign  countries,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  wear  and  tear,  losses  by  shipwreck,  etc.  Thus  the  currency, 
together  with  the  whole  mass  of  credits  built  upon  it,  is  subject  to 


THE    PREROdATIVE    OF    MONEY.  121 

enormous  variation,  a  variation  which  now-a-days  reflects  itself  pri- 
marily in  the  prices  of  marketable  securities,  shares  in  corporations, 
bonds  and  debentures,  secondarily  in  the  prices  of  all  commodities 
according  to  the  order  of  their  marketability,  and  lastly  in  the  sum 
of  wages  paid  for  labour.  When  men,  whether  capitalists  or  stipend- 
iaries, are  subject  to  such  circumstances  and  conditions,  they  dare 
not  venture  upon  new  enterprises,  however  meritorious,  for  fear  of 
being  caught  with  too  slender  a  bank  balance  and  forced  into  insol- 
vency. They  are  compelled  to  be  conservative,  overcautious  and  pen- 
nywise.  The  general  result  of  such  conservatism  is  a  slower  move- 
ment of  money,  and  a  smaller  number  of  exchanges,  than  would  attend 
a  fixed  and  stable  currency.  The  latter,  not  being  subject  on  the  one 
hand  to  meltage  or  exportation,  nor  on  the  other  to  mining  or  im- 
portation, would  safely  sustain  a  greater  mass  of  credits  and  yet  move 
more  rapidly:  A  state-regulated  and  stable  currency  of  looo  millions 
would  safely  bear,  let  us  say,  twice  as  many  credits  as  a  gratuitous- 
coinage  and  free-meltage  currency  of  the  same  nominal  amount.  The 
sum  of  money,  looo  millions, plus  credits  when  reduced  to  a  like  veloc- 
ity, together  2000  millions,  would  amount  to  a  volume  of  3000  mill- 
ions. All  elements  of  fluctuation  being  now  eliminated  from  the  cur- 
rency, men  would  no  longer  fear  to  promote  meritorious  enterprises 
merely  because  they  were  new;  they  would  cast  aside  their  pennywise 
policy  and  deal  promptly  and  frequently.  Transactions  would  multi- 
ply, money  would  move  rapidly;  and  instead  of  a  velocity  of  once  a 
weel:,  it  would  assume  a  velocity  of,  let  us  say,  twice  a  week.  A  cur- 
rency of  3000  millions  moving  twice  a  week  will  result  in  exchanges 
amounting  to  300  thousand  millions.  Suppose,  as  before,  that  the 
profits  were  5  per  cent,  but  that  Capital  only  got  a  third  instead  of  a 
half,howmuch  would  it  receive?  Answer:  5000  millions,or  just  double 
as  much  as  under  the  unregulated  coinage,  or  species,  or  Barter  sys- 
tem. On  the  other  hand.  Labour  would  receive  10,000  millions,  or 
four  times  as  much  as  under  the  Barter  system.  In  short,  the  species 
system,  which  Capital  deludes  itself  in  supposing  to  be  advantageous, 
really  robs  it  of  half  its  due  rewards ;  whilst  Labour  is  robbed  of  three- 
fourths  of  what  it  would  receive  undera  regulated  or  Numerical  system. 
When  the  Numerical  system  of  the  Roman  Republic  is  thoughtfully 
examined,  and  when  the  rapid  developement,  the  agricultural,  mining 
and  commercial  activity,  the  enormous  accumulation  of  wealth,  and 
the  vast  strides  in  science,  invention  and  the  arts,  which  character- 
ized the  Romans  during  and  shortly  after  the  employment  of  this  sys- 
tem, are  considered,  it  will  scarcely  be  denied  that  these  evidences  of 


122  ANCIENT    IlKITAIN. 

progress  were  due  in  some  measure  to  that  system.  It  was  an  evil 
day  for  Rome  when  the  Numerical  system  was  abandoned  and  Pliny 
(or  Timaius)  was  right  when  he  regarded  the  surrender  of  the  Pre- 
rogative of  Money  to  private  individuals  as  a  Crime  against  Mankind. 

The  historians  of  the  Republic  have  left  us  little  room  to  doubt  that 
the  distress  which  followed  the  cessation  of  the  Oriental  flood  of  the 
precious  metals  had  much  to  do  with  forcing  Rome  into  the  Punic 
wars;  indeed, in  rendering  popular  any  wars  that  promised  to  supply 
the  Republic  with  the  needed  materials  for  coinage.  It  may  even  be 
surmised  that  the  patricians — in  order  to  divert  the  Commons  from 
the  consideration  of  monetary  pressure — did  all  they  could  to  provoke 
Carthage  to  the  conquest.  The  Punic  wars  were  begun  by  Rome  B.  C. 
265.  They  ended  B.C.  202,  with  the  total  subversion  of  its  rival,  the 
capture  of  colossal  spoil,  in  gold  and  silver,  and  the  acquisition  of  the 
Spanish  mines.  These  resources,  when  coupled  with  those  afforded 
by  the  subsequent  conquest  of  Greece,  furnished  such  ample  relief 
from  the  dwindling  stock  of  money,  that  prices  rose  to  a  higher  level 
than  before;  the  Romans  forgot  their  apprehensions;  and  a  new  asra 
of  prosperity  began ;  an  sera  so  brilliant  and  hopeful  as  to  earn  for  it- 
self the  name  of  the  Halcyon  Age. 

But  there  is  no  stability  in  a  Barter  system,  and  it  makes  no  essen- 
tial difference  whether  the  barter  is  for  gold,  silver,  or  any  other  com- 
modity, as  such.  Sooner  or  later  it  must  come  to  judgment.  With  an 
increasing  and  prosperous  population,  it  requires  for  its  support  an 
augmentation  of  the  precious  metals  great  enough  to  supply  the  mints, 
satisfy  the  arts,  fill  the  channels  of  export,  and  withstand  the  wear- 
and-tear  of  coins.  Mining  is  unequal  to  this  demand,  while  conquest 
and  spoliation  can  only  meet  it  for  a  time.  After  Rome  had  plundered 
the  states  of  the  Levant  of  all  the  precious  metals  which  could  be 
found,  a  scarcity  of  money  again  made  itself  felt;  and  the  public  dis- 
tress became  so  marked  that  relief  was  sought  in  still  another  down- 
ward step  of  the  Prerogative  of  Money.  Under  the  old  system  of  B.  C. 
317  the  precious  metals  were  coined  apparently  without  limit,  though 
not  gratuitously.  The  Republic  charged  a  seigniorage  for  coining; 
and  it  reserved,  if  it  did  not  exercise,  some  further  control  over  the 
coinage.  It  was  resolved  about  B.  C.  175,  at  least  so  far  as  silver 
was  concerned,  to  throw  away  all  control  and  permit  the  patricians 
to  strike  their  own  coins,  whenever,  and  with  what  devices  and  to  as 
great  an  extent,  as  they  liked.  This  measure,  like  most  of  the  mon- 
etary legislation  of  Rome,  was  borrowed  from  Greece.  For  proof  of 
this,  see  a  passage  in  Xenophon,  ed.  1877,  p.  686.    It  was  doubtless 


THE    PREROGATIVE    OF    MONEY.  I23 

resorted  to  in  Rome  in  the  hope  of  inducing  the  wealthy  to  coin  their 
plate.  This  expectation,  and  the  pressure  of  the  times,  rendered  ac- 
ceptable private  issues  of  silver  coins  which  otherwise  would  have  met 
with  popular  contempt  and  resentment;  for  the  patricians  took  care 
to  stamp  upon  them  the  evidences  of  their  rank  and  the  bases  of  their 
pretensions.  For  a  while  the  expedient  succeeded;  but  the  paucity 
of  gentes  coins  which  were  struck  before  the  first  century  B.  C,  is 
an  evidence  that  the  measure  met  with  little  success.  The  patricians 
evidently  did  not  deem  it  advantageous  to  increase  the  currency;  and 
until  the  following  century,  during  the  civil  wars,  the  output  of  their 
private  coining-presses  was  comparatively  small.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  currency  steadily  diminished ;  and  before  the  middle  of  the 
century  the  Halcyon  Age  was  over. 

The  decline  of  the  Republic  now  suffered  but  little  interruption. 
The  last  resort  had  been  tried  and  failed.  There  were  no  more  rich 
countries  to  plunder;  mining  could  not  keep  pace  with  the  demands 
of  trade  for  the  materials  of  money;  and  trade  had  to  decline.  With 
it,  declined  production,  profit,  credit,  and  the  social  ties  which  arise 
from  commercial  prosperity.  In  the  course  of  a  little  more  than  an- 
other century,  the  Republic  fell  to  rise  no  more;  and  with  it  fell  for 
more  than  fifteen  centuries,  the  aspirations  of  mankind  for  justice, 
freedom  and  protection. 

Under  the  Empire  the  Prerogative  of  Money  was  partly  reserved 
by  the  State ;  though  even  this  reservation  was  only  effected  indirectly. 
The  sovereign-pontiff  monopolized  the  coinage  of  gold  and  fixed  the 
weight-ratio  of  value  between  gold  and  silver  at  i  to  1 2 ;  a  ratio  which 
remained  unaltered  for  over  1200  years.  He  shared  the  coinage  of 
silver  with  his  subject  kingdoms  and  left  the  coinage  of  bronze  to  the 
Senate  and  municipalities.  According  to  Epictetus,  Dissertations,  i, 
xxix,  all  these  coins  were  legal-tender;  but  it  may  be  presumed  that 
with  regard  to  the  bronze  coins,  their  legal-tender  was  limited.  Un- 
der these  conditions  the  Volume  of  Money  fluctuated  with  the  pro- 
ductivity of  mines  and  this  with  the  conquest  of  populous  countries 
and  the  supply  of  slaves.  Pliny  complained  of  the  vast  sums  of  silver 
which  in  his  own  day  were  drained  away  to  Asia;  Aurelian,  at  the  cost 
of  7000  troops,  defeated  the  private  coiners  and  resumed  the  Prerog- 
ative of  silver,  which,  however,  was  lost  again  in  subsequent  reigns; 
several  of  the  emperors  issued  edicts  against  the  absorption  of  the 
precious  metals  in  the  arts.  Diocletian  attempted  to  establish  a  tariff 
of  prices — edictum  pretiam — whilst  many  other  evidences  appear  from 
time  to  time  in  the  annals  of  the  Empire  which  prove  that  the  cur- 


124  ANCIENT    15RITAIN. 

rency  almost  continually  declined  and  as  continually  gave  rise  to  social 
disorders. 

Sir  Archibald  Alison  and  Mr.  William  Jacob  have  written  learned 
and  laborious  treatises  to  prove  that  the  decay  of  the  Empire  was  due 
to  the  shrinkage  of  its  metallic  currency  and  the  failure  of  its  mines. 
They  might  have  gone  much  further  and  shown  that  before  the  Em- 
pire, the  Republic  failed  from  similar  causes.  So  long  as  the  Comitia 
retained  its  vitality,  so  long  did  the  Republic,  through  its  legislative 
action,  retain  the  Prerogative  of  money;  and  so  long  were  produc- 
tion and  trade  promoted.  There  can  be  discerned  no  evidences  of  de- 
cay in  the  Roman  state  at  this  period.  But  the  moment  the  Senate 
succeeded  in  depriving  the  Comitia  of  its  powers,  the  moment  it  seized 
the  Prerogative  of  money  and  altered  the  Numerical  to  a  Barter  sys- 
tem, marks  of  retrogression  made  their  appearance.  The  metallic 
flood,  gained  from  trade  with  the  Greek  states,  which  in  turn  gained 
it  from  Alexander's  conquests  in  the  Orient  and  the  further  flood  of 
the  metals  wrested  from  the  despairing  hands  of  Greece  itself,  hid 
these  marks  for  a  time  and  converted  a  degenerate  into  a  progressive 
age  of  Rome.  But  when  these  stimuli  lost  their  force,  the  old  disease 
once  more  appeared ;  and  the  decline  of  the  Commonwealth  continued 
until  agrarian  disturbances  and  civil  wars  ingloriously  terminated  its 
career.  The  vigorous  and  prudent  measures  of  Julius  and  Augustus 
helped  for  a  lengthy  period  to  sustain  an  empire  where  a  republic  had 
fallen;  but  as  the  case  stood,  their  measures  could  only  be  half-meas- 
ures and  the  result  was  that  the  empire  declined  as  the  republic  had 
declined  before  it.  After  dying  many  deaths,  after  convulsions  so  vast 
that  the  world  never  witnessed  their  like  before,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
will  never  witness  their  like  again,  this  mighty  Empire,  finally  expired 
with  the  capture  of  Constantinople,  A.  D.  1204. 

Immediately  after  this  event,  as  if  to  emphasize  the  tremendous  im- 
portance of  the  coinage  Prerogative,  every  petty  monarch  within  the 
Roman  pale  began  to  coin  gold;  an  act  which  no  one  of  them  had  ever 
before  ventured  to  commit;  in  short,  they  took  up  and  exercised  that 
Prerogative  of  gold  which  the  dead  Empire  had  held  from  first  to  last, 
but  which  owing  to  the  proconsular  and  monarchical  coinages  of  silver 
and  the  municipal  coinages  of  bronze,  had  long  been  shorn  of  its  once 
superior  importance.  Among  those  who  first  struck  gold  at  this  period 
were  the  Kings  of  Leon,  A.  D.  1225;  Portugal,  1225;  France,  1226; 
England,  1257;  Bohemia  and  Poland,  1300,  and  the  Dukes  or  Counts 
of  Florence,  1252;  Genoa,  1252 ;  Flanders,  1265,  and  Venice,  1276. 

Will  any  one  pretend  to  say  that  the  assumption  of  this  potent  and 


THE    PREROGATIVE    OF    MONEY.  I25 

significant  Prerogative  by  Henry  III.  was  an  heritage  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  kings  and  not  from  Rome?  If  so,  then  let  it  also  be  shown  by 
such  pretenders  why  that  Prerogative  was  laid  aside, disused  and  never 
exercised  during  the  whole  of  the  five  hundred  years  which  separated 
the  pagan  Anglo-Saxon  kings  from  the  Fall  of  Constantinople. 

The  truth  is  that  the  British  Prerogative  of  money  has  no  other 
source  than  the  right  of  the  Roman  Comitia  to  control  the  issues  of 
money,  both  gold,  silver  and  bronze;  that  when  the  Comitia  was  de- 
prived of  this  right,  it  was  usurped  by  the  Senate  and  afterwards  sur- 
rendered to  the  gentes;  that  Caesar  preserved  and  exalted  the  Pre- 
rogative of  gold  (only)  for  the  Empire;  that  the  Empire  held  it  until 
its  overthrow  in  1204;  that  the  Prerogative  of  silver  was  conferred  by 
Cffisar  upon  the  proconsuls;  that  the  proconsuls  eventually  became 
kings,  who  exercised  this  Prerogative  of  money  and  this  one,  (the 
silver  prerogative,)  alone ;  none  of  them  venturing  to  strike  either  gold 
or  bronze ;  that  the  Prerogative  of  bronze  was  conferred  by  Csesar  upoa 
the  municipalities,  who  exercised  it  down  to,  and  in  some  cases  after, 
the  Fall  of  the  Empire;  and  that  the  first  King  of  England  who  ex- 
ercised all  three,  namely,  the  Prerogatives  of  gold,  of  silver,  and  of 
base  metal,  whether  bronze  or  tin,  was  Henry  III. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  right  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  con- 
trol the  issues  of  money;  a  right  which  came  from  the  Comitia.  The 
English  kings  who  exercised  it  before  the  Commons  did,  got  it  from 
the  Roman  Empire;  the  Empire  got  it  from  the  gentes;  the  gentes 
from  the  Senate;  and  the  Senate  from  the  Comitia,  ex  senatus  con- 
sulto.  The  Prerogative  of  money  in  England  cannot  be  traced  to  any 
other  source,  neither  from  the  witenagemote,  nor  from  popular  cus- 
tom. The  singular  abstention  from  the  coinage  both  of  gold  and  bronze 
for  upwards  of  500  years,  an  abstention  which  was  observed  not  only 
by  the  kings  of  England  but  also  by  those  of  every  other  state  of 
Christendom,  forms  an  absolute  bar  to  any  such  plea. 


126 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

RISE    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER    ON    THE    CONTINENT. 

The  ancient  Getoe  of  the  Oxus  and  Euxine — Their  removal  to  Illyria — The  Gets  of 
northern  Europe,  an  allied  race  of  later  date — Their  origin — Their  appearance  in  Rus- 
sia, Finland,  Sweden,  lesthonia.  Saxony,  Gaul,  and  Britain — They  fall  under  Roman 
sway — Their  revolts  against  Roman  authority — The  empire  of  Ivan  Vidfami  extends 
from  Novgorod  to  Northumbria. 

WE  have  been  taught  that  northern  Europe  during  the  Dark  Ages, 
was  invaded  by  rapidly  successive  hosts  of  strange  barbarians, 
countless  as  the  sands,  divided  into  innumerable  tribes,  having  little 
or  no  relation  to  one  another,  and  connected  by  no  tie  except  the  com- 
mon desire  to  plunder,  depopulate,  and  overthrow  the  Roman  empire. 
Precisely  whence  these  hosts  came,  how  they  supported  themselves 
in  the  deserts  and  forests  which  encircled  the  empire,  whence  they 
procured  their  arms,  or  what  magic  produced  the  discipline,  order  and 
unity  of  purpose  so  necessary  to  attack  or  resist  such  formidable  foes 
as  the  Romans,  we  are  not  informed.  The  archaeological  remains  in- 
dicate no  innumerable  hosts,  no  rapidly  successive  invaders,  no  count- 
less tribes  of  strangers  in  northern  Europe.  They  point  to  a  sparse 
population  of  Goths,  Slavs,  Alemanni  and  Huns,  every  petty  tribe  of 
whom  has  been  magnified  by  vanity,  fear,  prejudice,  or  imposture  into 
a  nation  of  giants  and  devourers.  We  are  not  concerned  herein  with 
the  Slavs,  Alemanni,  or  Huns;  but  with  regard  to  the  Goths  of  the 
Baltic,  had  the  Roman  chronicles  not  been  perverted  through  con- 
ceit and  superstition,  the  Romans  might  have  recognized  in  these  peo- 
ple the  same  race  whom  their  forefathers  had  reduced  to  subjection 
in  Moesia,  hacked  to  pieces  in  Illyria,  driven  away  from  the  Loire  and 
subjected  to  slavery  in  Britain ;  the  broad-shouldered, fair-haired, blue- 
eyed  worshippers  of  the  Sun  and  Woden;  that  race  against  whom  the 
Brahminical  priests  of  the  Romans  had  taught  them  not  only  to  wage 
war  but  carry  it  to  extermination. 

To  trace  the  rise  of  the  Sacae  or  the  Getse  in  Europe  generally  would 
be  beside  the  objects  of  this  volume;  but  as  according  to  the  views 


RISK    OK    THE    GOTHIC    POWER    ON    THE    CONTINENT.  1 27 

of  certain  eminent  authors,  the  chronicles  of  this  race  at  a  remote 
period,  were  those  of  Europe  itself,  it  may  conduce  to  a  better  un- 
-derstandingof  the  early  Norse  occupation  of  Britain,  if  some  allusion 
to  these  views  are  made  in  this  place.  History  has  been  so  greatly 
perverted  by  the  Greek  and  Roman  ecclesiastics  that  to  our  eyes  ev- 
ery truth  revealed  by  archaeology  seems  preposterous  and  every  fact 
stands  topsy-turvy.  We  have  been  taught,  for  example,  to  regard 
Greece  (and  after  it  Rome)  as  the  centre  of  the  civilized  world  and 
the  original  source  of  its  activity,  whilst  the  Sacae  was  a  host  of  preda- 
tory savages,  of  comparatively  modern  origin,  who  hovered  upon  the 
borders  of  this  world,  ready  to  tear  it  to  pieces  from  mere  love  of 
plunder  and  slaughter.  On  the  contrary,  the  monuments  of  Egypt 
and  Asia  Minor,  which  in  recent  years  have  been  discovered  for  the 
first  time  in  more  than  twenty-five  centuries,and  therefore  during  that 
interval  could  neither  have  been  forged  nor  altered,  afford  us  rea- 
sons to  suspect  that  the  Sacae  were  the  original  discoverers  of  Europe; 
that  they  occupied  it  before  either  Greece  or  Rome  had  any  national 
existence ;  that  these  barbarians  were  the  original  colonizers  of  Hellas, 
upon  which  they  conferred  language,  the  runic  letters,  religion,  gov- 
ernment and  a  distinctive  name;  in  short,  that  the  original  Greeks 
were  themselves  Sacae  and  worshippers  of  the  sun  god  les-saca. 

These  conclusions  had  been  anticipated  by  the  antiquarian  and  phil- 
ological researches  of  Jamieson,  Pinkerton,  Macfarlan,  Buchanan, 
Pococke  and  others.  The  present  work  is  only  concerned  with  these 
views  so  far  as  they  establish  the  antiquity  of  that  Norse  race  which 
colonized  or  conquered  Britain  during  the  republican  aera  of  Rome 
and  introduced  into  the  Islands  those  elements  of  political  liberty  to 
which  their  own  freedom  in  the  Deserts  and  Seas  of  the  North  had 
accustomed  them, but  whose  completion,  maturity  and  perfection  they 
could  only  have  found  in  the  institutes  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth. 
A  very  brief  outline  of  the  antiquarian  argument  will  therefore  suffice. 

Starting  from  the  mountain  valleys  of  the  Upper  Oxus  and  carry- 
ing with  them  the  Solar  worship,  the  Sacse  appeared  in  the  river  bot- 
toms of  the  Tigris  as  early,  perhaps,  as  the  eighteenth  century  B.C. 
That  they  were  driven  from  their  Asian  homes  by  the  Brahmins  of 
India  has  been  suspected  but  not  determined.  In  Mesopotamia  they  no 
doubt  found  a  large  indigenous  population,  yet  destitute  of  certain  aids 
to  material  developement,  with  which  the  Sacae,  though  substantially  a 
pastoral  people,  were  already  long  familiar.  Among  these  was  the 
domestic  horse,  which  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  the  latter  introduced 
into  both  Assyria,  Asia  Minor,  Greece  and  Egypt.   Indeed,  according 


128  ANCIENT    liRITAIN. 

to  Pococke  some  of  the  Saca;  were  known  distinctively  as  Hiyanians, 
or  Horse-tribes,  a  term  which  in  the  after  developement  of  the  Greek 
language  was  softened  into  lonians. 

All  this  will  sound  strangely  to  ears  long  attuned  to  the  smooth 
mendacity  of  medieval  ecclesiastical  history;  but  it  rests  upon  a  very 
strong  foundation  of  philological  and  archaeological  research.      The 
chronology  may  indeed  require  to  be  readjusted,  but  in  the  main  these 
opinions  are  supported  by  valid  and  independent  proofs.    The  period 
when  the  "Chiefs  of  the  Hela,"  Hellaines,  or  Hellenes,  first  made 
their  appearance  in  that  famous  country,  whose  priests  afterwards 
ungratefully  disowned  their  paternity,  is  uncertain;  however,  it  ap- 
pears to  fall  between  the  eighteenth  and  seventeenth  century  before 
our  sera.'     At  a  later  period  we  find  the  Veneti,  Eneti,  Beneti,  or 
Heneti,  another  tribe  of  Sacoe,  Catti,  Khatti,  orGetae,  occupying  the 
shores  of  the  Euxine;  their  most  important  settlement  being  Trap- 
esus,  (Trebizond,)  near  which  they  worked  the  copper  and  iron  mines 
of  Chalybia.    Here  no  doubt  to  the  reader's  relief  they  come  within 
the  purview  of  those  classical  authors  whose  altered  works  have  hith- 
erto been  too  largely  accepted  as  history ;  and  here  we  leave  them  to 
the  care  of  Homer,  Hecatseus,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  Cato,  Strabo, 
Pliny,  Nepos,  Mela,  Arrian,  Solinus  and  Justin.   All  of  these  authors 
allude  to  the  Veneti,  some  identify  them  with  the  Getae,  some  allude 
to  their  tall  figures,  blue  eyes  and  yellow  hair,  some  to  their  fighting- 
women,  their  female  chieftains,  their  peculiar  mode  of  travel,  their 
love  of  horses,  their  horse-fights,  horse-races  and  horse-sacrifices, 
their  worship  of  the  Sun,  and  many  other  traits  and  customs  with  which 
we  people  of  the  north  are  not  altogether  unfamiliar.^    Others  men- 
tion their  conflicts  with  the  Phoenicians  concerning  the  navigation 
and  trade  of  the  Euxine,  their  struggles  against  the  Assyrian  hier- 
archy and  their  final  defeat  and  removal  to  Greece,  where  a  portion 
joined  their  brother  Getge  in  Thraceand  Moesia;  while  the  main  body 
settled  in  Illyria  and  began  a  new  history  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic. 
As  Oriental  products  have  been  found  in  Europe  amongst  the  re- 
mains of  a  period  anterior  to  the  seventeenth  century  B.  C. — which 
is  believed  to  be  that  of  the  first  appearance  of  Phoenician  traders  in 
the  Red  and  Mediterranean  seas — it  must  be  assumed  that  if  they  en- 
tered Asia  Minor  prior  to  this  period  the  Veneti  either  came  by  sea 
to  Babylon,  or  overland  by  the  Caucasus.    Upon  comparing  the  an- 

'  Pococke,  "India  in  Greece." 

*  Aswa,  a  horse;  Aswa-medha,  a  horse  sacrifice.  This  is  observed  in  India  on  the 
winter  solstice.  It  was  observed  by  the  Sun-worshippers  twelve  centuries  before  our 
sera.  Col.  Tod,  cited  in  Pococke,  p.  51. 


RISK    OF    THK    C;0'nnc    POWER    ON    'JlIK    CONTINENT.  I29 

cient  overland  trade  route  laid  down  in  Ptolemy's  Geography  with  the 
works  of  modern  travellers  Mr.  Murray  was  able  to  demonstrate  that 
it  crossed  the  Pamirs  and  descended  the  Beloor  by  the  valley  of  the 
Oxus,  whence  it  seems  to  have  crossed  the  Caspian  sea. ^  This  was 
probably  the  route  of  the  Veneti.  The  whole  country  north  of  the 
Oxus  was  known  as  Katt-ei  or  Kat-ai,and  this  name  it  retained  down 
to  the  period  of  the  Mongol  conquest  of  China. 

It  has  been  assumed  herein  that  the  Gette,  the  Sacre  and  the  Goths 
were  the  same  people.  Let  us  now  briefly  examine  the  evidences  upon 
which  this  assumption  rests.  The  first  of  these  terms  relates  to  the 
original  habitat  of  these  people,  the  second  to  their  religion,  the  third 
to  their  god.  Catti,Gatti,Geta3,Khatti,  Khatai,Ke-ti,etc.,are  variants 
of  a  northern  Asiatic  word  meaning  the  Desert,  or  people  of  the  Des- 
ert,^ whose  identity  is  fully  established  by  Cassiodorus,  Procopius, 
Marco-Polo,  Rudbeck,  Malte-Brun  and  other  authors.  Indeed  the 
Khatai,  pronounced  Ke-ti,  exist  to  this  day;  and  they  and  their  pres- 
ent country,  northern  Tibet,  are  both  known  by  that  name.  When 
Marco-Polo  traversed  the  old  caravan  route  and  entered  China,  this 
warlike  race  had  conquered  that  empire  and  bestowed  their  name  upon 
it,  a  name  which  the  Venetian  merchant  afterwards  brought  to  Eu- 
rope in  the  corrupted  form  of  Cathai,  or  Cathay.  Saca,  Sacse,  Saxae, 
and  Scythi,  or  Scythians,  are  likewise  variants  of  one  word, which  in 
this  case  is  taken  from  the  name  of  the  Solar  god,  les-saca.  That  the 
Getse  and  the  Sacse  were  the  same  people  is  established  by  numerous 
evidences  and  corroborated  by  Buchanan,  Rudbeck,  Pinkerton,  Jamie- 
son,  Tod,  Princeps  and  other  Orientalists.  Goth  is  not  a  variant  or 
derivative  of  Getae,  but  is  an  English  form  of  Got  or  Gotama,  the 
name  of  the  deity,  worshipped  by  the  Getje,  or  Saxas,  after  they  had  en- 
grafted some  form  of  Buddhism  upon  their  original  worship  of  the  Sun.  * 
Hence  the  oldest  of  these  names  isCatti  and  as  such  it  is  often  found  in- 
scribed on  the  Assyrian  monuments.  Even  in  the  Greek  literature  that 
has  been  permitted  to  reach  us, the  Getse  appear  as  early  as  the  fifth 
century  B.C.,  for  Thucydides  informs  us  that  in  his  time  they  were  em- 
ployed in  arms  against  the  Macedonians.  From  other  sources  we  know 
that  in  the  following  century  Philip  made  war  upon  them  in  Moesia.  ** 
^  Hugh  Murray,  Trans.  Royal  Soc.  Edinburgh,  viii,  171;  also  a  later  work  entitled 
"An  Historical  Account  of  Discoveries  and  Travels  in  Asia,"  i,  485. 
^  Malte-Brun,  Geog.,  11,  24.  '^  Noel,  Myth.,  voc,  "Got." 

®  Thucydides,  Pel.  War,  year  III,  fin.  The  wars  of  Philip  against  the  Getas  are  men- 
tioned in  Q.  Curtius,  Supp.  i,  5,  12.  Tomi,  Tomis,  or  Tomos,  36  miles  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Danube,  was  the  capital  of  Lower  Mcesia  and  the  place  of  Ovid's  unexplained 
banishment  by  Augustus.  It  was  inhabited  or  surrounded  by  the  Getce.  Ovid  learnt 
their  language  and  wrote  a  poem  in  it.  This  work  may  have  been  the  source  of  some 
of  the  muddled  mythology  of  the  sagas. 


130  ANCIKNT    IlKriAIN. 

If  we  seek  for  the  origin  of  those  hosts  who  overran  the  Roman  em- 
pire during  the  Dark  Ages  in  the  evidences  afforded  by  their  stature, 
complexion,  maritime  habits,  and  fondness  for  a  cold  climate,  these 
point  to  the  north  and  to  the  seaside.  Pliny  the  Elder  repeats,  after 
Cornelius  Nepos,  that  in  the  consulship  of  Quintus  Metellus  Celer  and 
Lucius  Afranius  (B.  C.  60)  certain  Indians  (any  Asiatic  race  might 
have  been  called  Indians  at  that  time)  who  had  sailed  from  theirown 
country  on  a  trading  voyage,  were  cast  away  on  the  northern  ooasts 
of  Europe,  captured  by  the  Suevians,  and  by  them  handed  over  to  the 
Roman  governor  of  Gaul/  These  adventurers  must  have  been  blown 
around  the  North  Cape;  and  their  voyage  indicates  one  of  the  paths 
by  which  the  blue-eyed  and  yellow-haired  Goths  had  previously  found 
their  way  to  northern  Europe.  By  a  similar  path,  that  is,  sailing  al- 
ways in  high  latitudes,  the  Goths  afterwards  found  their  way  to  Ice- 
land, Greenland  and  America. 

In  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  Pytheas  of  Marseilles  found  Gutones 
or  Goths,  established  along  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  sea  for  a  distance 
of  6000  stadia,  or  750  miles.  This  would  extend  their  territory  from 
the  Neva  to  the  Rhine.  He  mentions  their  island,  Abalus,  which 
Timaeus  called  Basilia,''  probably  either  Usedom  or  Wollin,and  alludes 
to  their  neighbours,  the  Teutones,  who  traded  with  them  for  amber, 
which  the  latter  doubtless  carried  into  Greece."  "We  here  say  noth- 
ing of  the  traditional  antiquity  of  certain  northern  cities,  nor  of  the 
numerous  dome-rings,  tumuli,  and  other  ancient  Gothic  remains  found 
in  Britain,  because  they  have  no  positive  dates.  Relying  solely  upon 
evidences  with  dates  we  are  warranted  in  concluding  that  the  Goths 
occupied  not  only  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  Pontus,  Thracia  and 
Moesia,  but  also  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  from  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia 
to  the  Firth  of  Forth  ;  in  a  word,  that  they  encircled  the  northern  and 
eastern  frontiers  of  classical  Europe,  including  Scandinavia, "  as  early 
as  the  fifth  century  before  our  ara,  possibly  much  earlier. 

'  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  11,  67.  Tacitus  also  says  explicitly  that  "  the  first  migrations  " 
((from  Asia  into  northern  Europe)  "were  made  by  sea."  Germania,  II. 

**  Strabo,  2,  etc.;  Pliny,  xxxvii,  11;  see  also  iv,  27,  28. 

^  To  Pytheas,  Caesar,  Strabo,  Pliny  and  Tacitus,  "Germany"  meant  all  north- 
eastern Europe.  This  sweeping  phraseology  has  bred  a  multitude  of  blunders.  Herod- 
otus, Thalia,  115,  mentions  the  amber  (electrum)  brought  to  Greece  from  the  Northern 
sea.  A  recent  German  writer.  Herr  Meyer,  throws  doubt  upon  this  source  of  amber 
and  thinks  that  previous  to  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  ?era  the  Roman  supplies 
all  came  from  the  Orient;  but  he  has  evidently  not  seen  a  copy  of  Herodotus,  nor  made 
any  analysis  of  Baltic  and  Burmese  amber,  whose  relative  proportions  of  succinic  acid 
would  have  at  once  resolved  his  doubts  in  favour  of  the  explicit  statement  of  Herod- 
otus.  London  "Chronicle,"  September  23rd,  1893. 

'"  From  Scanda-nabhi,  meaning  Scanda  chiefs.   Pococke,  53. 


RISE    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER    ON    THE    CONTINENT.  131 

The  religion  of  the  Goths  so  far  as  it  .s  known  to  us  was  much  cor- 
rupted; the  numerous  place-names  in  the  north  which  begin  with  les; 
the  octonary  division  of  the  year;  the  octonary  ratio  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver ;  the  sacrifices  of  horses ;  and  many  of  their  festivals, belong  to  the 
Solar  worship;  the  worship  of  Bhadr,  Balder,  Teut,  Tat,  or  Woden 
and  of  the  Mother  of  God;  the  sacred  sign  of  the  svastica;  and  the 
absence  of  caste;  these  are  Buddhic.  On  the  other  hand,  the  festi- 
val of  the  vernal  equinox,  the  triune  godship  of  Thor,  Woden  and 
Frica,  the  rite  of  baptism,  the  sacrifice  of  human  beings,  the  institute 
of  hirsars,  and  the  code  of  retts,  are  Brahminical.  The  runic  letters, 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  Goths  and  which  have  been  found  either  on 
bedrocks,  or  heavy  boulders,  or  slabs,  all  the  way  from  the  banks  of 
the  Yen-Iesei  river  to  Greenland,  and  except  in  the  last  named  case 
always  between  latitude  50  and  60  north,  point  to  the  vicinity  of  that 
vast  inland  sea,  Lake  Baikal,  as  their  original  habitat. "  Starting  from 
this  point,  probabably  as  early  as  the  eighth  century  before  our  sera, 
the  Baltic  Goths  appear  to  have  descended  to  the  White  sea,  made 
their  way  around  the  Cape,  and  reconnoitered  the  coast  of  Norway, 
which  in  the  Sagas,  is  called  Halgaland,  or  the  Holy  Land,  probably 
in  reference  to  the  religious  rest  or  freedom  which  they  had  hoped  to 
derive  from  their  removal  thither.  It  is  likely  that  many  such  voy- 
ages were  made  and  many  colonies  planted  in  Halgaland  before  the 
main  body  of  the  more  northern  Getffi  ventured  to  cross  the  steppes 
and  approach  their  future  country  on  horseback.  Their  route  is  in- 
dicated by  the  place-name  of  the  god  les,  which,  like  a  woodman's 
"blaze"  through  a  forest,  they  left  wherever  they  dwelt.  This  name 
will  be  found  in  Russia  and  along  both  shores  of  the  Baltic  sea,  as 
far  west  as  Britain,  circumstances  which  render  it  probable  that 
these  migrations  were  spread  over  a  lengthy  period.  Some  portions 
of  this  interval  may  be  filled  up  from  the  meagre  annals  of  the 
Massagetse,  and  other  Desert  tribes  mentioned  by  Herodotus;  but 
for  the  most  part,  it  is  blank.  At  the  end  of  this  time,  that  is  to 
say,  when  Pytheas  visited  the  Baltic,  the  Goths  encircled  northern 
Europe;  and  the  same  gods  were  worshipped  and  a  similar  dialect 
spoken  certainly  in  Esthonia,  North  Britain  and  Northern  France 
and  probably  at  every  seaport  between  Novgorod,  Leith  and  the 

"  Rune  is  a  Gothic  word,  meaning  a  magical  letter,  a  mystery,  a  myth,  and  it  had 
no  more  to  do  with  runir,  the  Latin  for  spear,  than  it  had  with  a  catapult.  The  Greeks 
used  the  runic  letters  and  avoided  the  Gothic  language.  In  a  similar  way  the  Gaulish 
druids  and  Helvetians  both  used  the  Greek  letters,  but  not  the  Greek  language.  Caesar, 
VI,  13;  I,  29. 


132  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

mouth  of  the  Loire,  where  Cresar  found  a  powerful  colony  of  the 
Veneti.'^ 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  terms  upon  which  the  Goths  and 
Romans  dwelt  in  Britain,  beginning  with  mutual  respect  and  religious 
toleration,  led  to  the  enrolhnent  of  the  former  in  the  army,  their  ad- 
mission to  citizenshij-)  and  to  frequent  intermarriages  between  the  Ro- 
man soldiers  and  provincial  Gothic  women.  This  good  understanding, 
though  interrupted  for  a  time  by  the  religious  exactions  of  the  Ju- 
liani  and  Augustini,  was  restored  when  the  impious  religion  declined, 
but  not  restored  upon  its  former  footing.  The  religious  developement 
which  had  occurred  in  Rome  was  totally  foreign  to  Gothic  genius, 
which  was  ever  opposed  to  hierarchical  government,  no  matter  under 
what  name  or  pretence  it  came.  The  Goths  of  Britain,  though  proud 
of  their  Roman  citizenship  and  loyal  in  their  adhesion  to  the  empire, 
had  long  neglected  their  kinsmen,  the  Sac?e  of  the  Baltic.  The  per- 
secutions of  the  Augustines  induced  them  to  remember  their  relatives 
and  renew  their  former  intimacy.  The  growth  of  the  Roman  hier- 
archy only  served  to  reunite  the  Gothic  tribes  and  races.  They  no 
longer  sought  alliance  with  Roman  families,  but  with  each  other.  The 
marriage  of  Thurber,  kingof  the  "Scots"  to  the  daughter  of  Froude 
III.,  of  Denmark,  A.D.  310-24,  is  an  instance  of  this  kind ;  it  doubt- 
less found  many  followers  both  among  the  nobles  and  citizens.'^ 

During  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  the  Goths  of  the  Baltic  or- 
ganized numerous  maritime  expeditions  which  were  despatched  east 
and  west  to  despoil  the  rich  and  now  more  and  more  detested  shrines 
of  Rome.  One  of  these,  descending  the  Dnieper,  reinforced  an  an- 
cient colony  of  the  same  race  in  Moesia  and  Dacia  which  won  its  in- 
dependence from  the  Roman  empire.  '^  The  centre  of  these  operations 
appears  to  have  been  lestland,  or  Austriki — now  known  as  Esthonia, 
etc., — and  especially  the  port  of  Vinet.  By  the  fifth  century  of  our 
aera  the  Goths  appear  to  have  reduced  to  agriculture  the  large  Scythian 
provinces  of  Gardariki  and  Holmgard,  between  which  lay  the  grow- 
ing town  of  Novgorod,  then  a  trading  post  between  the  Orient  and 
northern  Europe,  afterwards  to  become  the  capital  of  the  earliest  re- 
public which  followed  the  Roman  Commonwealth. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  allude  to  the  Goths  within  the  Roman  em- 
pire.  Between  A.D.  284  and  304  at  least  six  colonies  of  Goths  were 

'^  Bala-deva,  the  god  Baal, was  the  elder  brother  of  Christna.  Balder  is  a  corruption. 
Sometimes  Bhadr  (Christna)  and  Balder  are  used  to  designate  the  same  personage, 
Pococke,  299.  '^Durham,  i,  2S6. 

'*  The  ecclesistical  account  of  the  occupation  of  Lower  Moesia  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand and  impossible  to  believe. 


RISE    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER    ON    THE    CONTINENT.  133 

established  in  Gaul  under  the  Roman  emperors,  or  proconsuls.  Of 
these,  three  were  in  Normandy,  at  or  near  Beauvais,  Amiens, and  Cam- 
brai,  one  on  the  Moselle  near  Treves,  one  at  Troyes  in  Champagne, 
one  at  Langres,  in  the  Haut  Marne. '^  A  portion  of  these  were  the 
Norse-Burgundian  prisoners  taken  either  by  Probus  in  275,  or  by  Max- 
iminian  Hercules  in  287,  All  of  these  colonists  were  employed  as 
woodcutters,  shepherds,  and  husbandmen ;  and  except  when  it  was 
found  practical  or  expedient  to  enroll  them  in  the  legions,  they  were 
denied  the  use  of  military  weapons.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were 
permitted  to  acquire  land,  and  retain  their  national  religion  and  cus- 
toms. Among  the  latter  was  their  inclination  always  to  settle  near 
the  sea,  or  a  navigable  water-course.  The  Roman  patricians  of  Gaul 
probably  exulted  in  the  thought  that  these  pagans,  lately  an  object 
of  terror  to  the  frontiers,  now  peacefully  cleared  and  cultivated  their 
farms,  drove  their  cattle  to  the  neighbouring  fair,  kept  their  roads 
and  public  works  in  order,  and  enhanced  by  their  presence  the  value 
of  lands.  Their  passionate  love  of  freedom,  their  racial  detestation 
of  an  hierarchy  and  the  rebellious  designs  against  Roman  rule  which 
were  apt  to  be  fostered  by  such  prejudices,  were  forgotten;  for  there 
appears  to  have  been  no  warning  of  the  coming  storm.  However, 
come  it  did.  Obtaining  the  assistance  of  their  relatives  and  friends 
in  Scandinavia  and  of  allied  or  subject  tribes  in  Scythia,  lestia.  Sax- 
ony and  Denmark, the  various  communities  of  Goths  combined  in  the 
fourth  century,  and  swept,  chiefly  in  two  great  torrents,  one  through 
northern  Gaul,  the  other  along  the  valley  of  the  Danube.  Augustine, 
of  Hippo,  has  left  us  a  highly  coloured  picture  of  the  devastation  which 
marked  their  path  from  Denmark  through  Holland  to  the  sieges  of 
Tournay,  Reims,  Amiens  and  Arras;  while  Procopius  alludes  to  the 
revolt  of  Jovinus  and  the  establishment  of  the  Gothic  kingdom  of  Bur- 
gundy. Long  before  the  date  assigned  by  the  monks  to  the  Gothic 
or  Anglo-Saxon  risings  in  Britain,  the  Goths  were  in  the  possession 
of  the  whole  of  northern  and  eastern  Gaul ;  and  Gothic  standards  waved 
from  Upsala  to  Marseilles,  from  Novgorod  to  the  Western  ocean. 

In  the  fifth  century  their  sway  extended  continuously  along  the  coasts 
of  the  northern  seas,  from  Russia  to  the  Irish  channel.  In  the  sixth 
century  "Ivan  Vidfami  subdued  the  whole  of  Sviaveldi,  (the  Swedish 
realm) ;  he  also  had  Daneveldi,  (Danish  realm),  a  large  part  of  Saxe- 
land,  the  whole  of  Austriki  realm  and  the  fifth  part  of  England.  From 
his  kinsmen  have  come  the  kings  of  Denmark  and  Sweden,  who  have 

'^  For  the  struggles  of  Beauvais  at  a  subsequent  period  against  the  pretensions  and 
■exactions  of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  see  Guizot's  Hist.  Civ.,  vol.  Ill,  Appendi.x. 


134  ANCIENT    liRITAlN. 

sole  power  in  these  lands. "  '"  It  should  be  observed  that  Ivan  is  here 
stated  to  have  "subdued"  Sweden,  and  that  he  "had,"  probably 
meaning  that  he  already  had,  all  the  other  dominions  mentioned.  In- 
deed, a  great  part  of  them  had  been  in  possession  of  Norse  kings  for 
several  centuries.  In  Ragnar  Lodbrok's  saga,  cc.  10-19,  we  are  told 
that  Ivan  won  his  English  dominions  from  king  Ella  (560-87)  and  that 
he  rebuilt  London.  An  extension  of  such  dominions  may  indeed  have 
been  acquired  from  king  Ella;  but  as  previously  shown,  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  northern  portion  of  Britain  by  Norsemen  had  taken  place 
centuries  previously.  If  it  be  admitted  with  Gregory  and  Bede  that 
the  Franks  and  Anglo-Saxons  spoke  the  same  or  nearly  the  same  lan- 
guage, this  extension  of  Gothic  supremacy  must  also  embrace  both 
shores  of  the  Channel." 

Simultaneously  with  the  rising  of  the  northern,  occurred  that  of  the 
south-eastern, Goths  under  Alaric.  Nurtured  in  the  camps  of  Rome, 
this  chieftain  had  learnt  the  perfected  art  of  war  in  the  civil  contest 
between  Theodosius  I.,  and  Eugenius.  After  the  death  of  the  con- 
queror, Alaric  headed  that  formidable  revolt  of  Goths,  who,  issuing 
from  Moesia,  soon  overran  Greece  and  spread  to  Italy  and  Spain,  where 
they  were  known  as  Visigoths.  Their  watchwords  were  Freedom  and 
Spoil;  freedom  from  a  hated  worship  of  emperors  and  from  the  ex- 
hausting labour  of  the  fields  and  mines,  to  which  their  fealty  to  the 
Roman  government  had  exposed  them;  freedom  from  the  conscrip- 
tion; freedom  from  exactions  for  the  benefit  of  a  detested  hier- 
archy; and  the  spoil  of  the  patricians.  More  than  once  were  the  Goths, 
bafifled  by  the  good  fortune  of  the  helpless  Honorius,  or  else  placated 
by  bribery  of  office  or  treasure;  but  such  concessions  could  but  ill 
appease  an  injured  and  infuriated  people  in  arms.  Yet  it  was  possibly 
with  some  reluctance  that  the  Gothic  chieftain  gave  the  command) 
which  devoted  the  Eternal  City  to  the  licentious  fury  of  his  followers. 
The  temples  and  sanctuaries  of  the  ancient  mythology  were  spared; 
but  all  the  rest,  together  with  many  valuable  lives,  wene  swept  away 
in  the  whirlwind  of  contempt  and  hatred  which  emperor-worship  and 
its  monstrous  demands  had  invoked. 

>^  Ynglinga  Saga,  c.  45-6;  Saxo  Grammaticus;  Du  Chaillu,  i,  22;  Durham,  1,288-9.. 
"  Epistles,  54;  Ecc.  History;  i,  i,  c.  23-5. 


135 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

I  THE    GOTHIC    PROVINCE    OF    SAXONY. 

Medieval  Saxony  described  by  Eginhhard  consisted  of  the  southern  coasts  of  the  North 
and  Baltic  seas — This  was  the  original  habitat  of  the  Saxons  of  Britain — These  were 
all  Goths  and  worshippers  of  Woden — Reconcilement  of  the  ancient  texts  with  this 
view — Caesar — Tacitus — Ptolemy — Julian — Eutropius — Ammianus  Marcellinus — Si- 
donius  Apollinaris — Procopius — Story  of  the  conquest  of  Britain  as  told  by  the  monks 
— It  is  contradicted  by  the  archaeological  remains  and  by  antiquarian  researches — 
Story  of  the  conquest  of  Britain  in  the  Sagas — It  agrees  with  archaeology  and  with 
Eginhard — Intrinsic  improbabilities  of  the  monkish  story — Maritime  character  of  the 
Cioths — Tacitus,  Strabo,  Ptolemy — Germany,  or  Alemannia,  was  situated  south  of 
Saxony — The  Germans  knew  nothing  of  the  sea  and  never  entered  Britain. 

IN  embracing  all  the  coasts  of  Europe  under  the  misleading  name 
of  Germany,  the  Romans  were  followed  by  the  early  Christian 
writers,  but  what  the  Germans,  (Hermiones,  or  Alemanni,)  themselves 
called  Germany  was  far  less  extensive.  By  them,  the  name  was  con- 
fined to  the  higher  country  south  of  the  navigable  Elbe  and  north  of 
the  Danube.  Northward  of  this  the  land  was  called  Saxony.  It  was 
peopled  by  a  race  differing  from  themselves  in  aspect,  language  and 
religion.  This  view  of  Germany  was  evidently  known  to  Tacitus.  "The 
Ingaevones,"  says  he,  "border  on  the  sea-coast,  the  Hermiones  in- 
habit the  midland  country,  and  the  Istaevones  occupy  the  remaining 
country."  After  this  correct  definition  of  Germany,  he  forgets  all 
about  it.* 

Pliny,  Ptolemy  and  Procopius  called  the  people  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries (the  Ingaevones  of  Tacitus)  Goths,  and  Vandals,  two  branches 
of  one  trunk.  Lesser  divisions  were  known  as  the  Gepidse,  Heruli, 
Burgundians,  etc.  Down  to  the  age  of  the  Antonines,  Gothic  tribes 
occupied  all  of  East  Prussia,  Mecklenburg,  Denmark,  and  Friesland;  * 
and  they  remained  in  those  countries,  mingling  their  blood  with  that 
of  the  aborigines,  and  forming  those  mixed  races,  of  whom  the  most 
western  were  known  as  Jutes,  Angles,  Saxons,  Frisia-n-s,  and  Franks. 

'  Germania,  ii.  '^  Gibbon,  i,  295. 


136  AN'CIENT    BRITAIN. 

Eginliard  ihus  alludes  to  and  designates  the  Eastern  tribes  of  Saxony: 
" 'l"he  wild  and  barbarous  nations  which  inhabit  (ierniany  between 
the  Rhine,  the  Vistula,  the  Ocean  and  the  Danube,  speak  a  very  simi- 
lar language,  but  are  widely  different,  both  in  manners  and  dress. 
Chief  among  these  are  the  Welatabi,  Sorabi,  Abroditi,  and  litemanni. 
^\"\ih  these  there  was  fighting,  but  the  rest,  who  were  more  numerous, 
quietly  submitted."  To  whom?  To  Charlemagne,  his  master,  who 
was  their  enemy  and  persecutor.  In  another  place  he  alludes  to  "  that 
part  of  Germany  between  Saxony  and  the  Danube."  Thus  Saxony 
included  the  sea-coast.  Matthew  Paris  evidently  alluded  to  a  portion 
of  this  country  as  Gothland  when  he  said:  "They,  (the  Tat-ers,  or 
Tartars,)  reduced  to  a  desert  the  countries  of  Friesland,  Gotland,  Po- 
land, Bohemia,  and  both  divisions  of  Hungary."  ° 

There  were  two  lines  of  pagan  states  between  the  northern  seas  and 
the  country  of  the  Alemanni,  or  Upper  Germany.  The  first  line  was 
along  the  coasts  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Vistula.  This  was  collectively 
called  Saxony;  its  inhabitants  were  Goths,  its  religion  Wodenism." 
The  second  line  was  between  Saxony  and  Upper  Germany  and  it  con- 
sisted of  the  country  conquered  by  the  Eastern  Franks.  Upper  Ger- 
many, or  Germany  proper,  embraced  the  Alemanni,  Thuringians,  Ba- 
varians, and  some  other  tribes  who  occupied  the  territory  near  the 
watershed  between  the  sources  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  in  the 
modern  Baden,  Wurtemburg  and  Bavaria.  In  another  place  Eginhard 
thus  describes  the  Baltic  sea:  "There  is  a  gulf  running  in  from  the 
Western  ocean,  stretching  toward  the  east,  its  length  has  not  been 
ascertained,  but  its  breadth  nowhere  exceeds  a  hundred  miles  and  in 
many  places  it  is  much  narrower.  Several  nations  dwell  around  this 
gulf,  such  as  the  Danes  and  Swedes.  The  latter,  who  are  Northmen, 
occupy  the  northern  shores  and  all  the  islands.  The  southern  coasts 
are  inhabited  by  Slavs,  Histi,  (Esthonians,)  and  other  tribes,  chief 
amongst  these  are  the  Welatabi, against  whom  the  king  (Charlemagne) 
was  now  waging  war."  Elsewhere,  and  still  more  explicitly,  he  de- 
scribes the  Welatabi  as  Slavs,  and  his  commentator,  Mr.  Glaister, 
locates  them  near  the  Elbe. 

Further  on,  Eginhard  says:  "The  last  war  undertaken  (by  Char- 
lemagne) was  against  those  Northmen  who  are  called  Danes,  who  at 
first  as  pirates  and  afterwards  with  a  larger  (royal)  fleet  were  ravaging 

^  Chronicles,  i,  339. 

^  The  statue  of  Irmansul,  alluded  to  in  Eginhard's  Annals  of  the  first  Saxon  campaign 
and  supposed  by  the  older  commentators  to  have  been  that  of  Hermann,  is  now  be- 
lieved to  have  represented  the  Gothic  god  Woden.  Grimm's  Deutsche  Mythologie,  I, 
325,  cited  in  Bryce,  69. 


THE    GOTHIC    PROVINCE    OK     SAXONV.  137 

the  coasts  of  Gaul  and  Germany.  Their  king,  Godfrey,  was  puffed 
up  with  the  delusive  hope  of  making  himself  master  of  all  Germany 
and  persisted  in  regarding  Frisia  and  Saxony  as  his  own  provinces. 
He  had  already  brought  the  Abroditi,  (a  tribe  of  Slavs,)  under  his 
power  and  had  made  them  tributary  to  him.  He  used  even  to  boast 
that  he  would  shortly  appear  with  all  his  forces  at  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
where  the  king's  court  was  held.  Foolish  as  his  talk  was,  there  were 
some  who  did  not  altogether  discredit  him."  Shortly  afterward,  (A.  D. 
819,)  Godfrey,  or  Gotofrid,  the  pagan,  was  poisoned,  and  the  war  ended 
with  the  triumph  of  Louis  le  Debonnair,  Charlemagne  having  died  in 
S14.  This  passage  discloses  the  following  facts:  that  the  Northmen 
had  conquered  those  Slavs  who  previously  had  dwelt  on  the  southern 
shores  of  the  North  and  Baltic  seas,  therefore  that  the  dominions  of  the 
former  afterwards  embraced  both  the  northern  and  southern  shores; 
that  the  Abroditi,  a  Slavic  tribe,  had  become  tributary  to  the  North- 
men; that  Charlemagne  and  Louis  succeeded  in  driving  the  Northmen 
away ;  that  the  Northmen  nevertheless  regarded  and  claimed  the  coasts 
of  Frisia  and  Saxony,  which  Eginhard  calls  the  coast  of  Germany,  as 
their  own  provinces,  and  felt  so  certain  of  re-possessing  them  that 
they  even  boasted  of  soon  taking  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  that  this  boast  was 
not  so  empty  but  that  some  people  about  Charlemagne's  court  deemed 
it  practicable  of  realization. 

In  fact,  the  Goths  made  their  boast  good,  for  within  twenty  years 
of  the  death  of  Gotofrid,  they  actually  stabled  their  horses  in  the  ca- 
thedral church  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  As  to  holding  the  southern  coasts 
of  the  Baltic,  they  regained  possession  of  them  and  held  them  until 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  Saxony  mentioned  by  the  monks  Gildas, 
N'ennius,  and  Bede,  as  the  country  from  which  the  invaders  of  Eng- 
land issued,  was  therefore  the  Saxony  of  Eginhard,  a  sea-coast  prov- 
ince of  great  extent,governed  and  inhabited  by  the  Goths,a  seafaring 
people,  who  professed  the  religion  of  Woden  and  who  held  the  Slavs 
in  thraldom.*  It  is  necessary  to  hold  this  conclusion  firmly  in  mind, 
for  what  with  the  confusion  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers,  the  cor- 
rupted cosmogonies  of  the  monks,  and  the  pretensions  of  the  Carlo- 
vingians  and  afterwards  of  the  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  the  medieval 

^  The  appearance  of  Gothic  physiognomies  in  parts  of  Germany,  a  fact  that  has  puz- 
zled some  ethnologists  and  rendered  them  reluctant  to  accept  any  theory  which  removes 
the  Germans  from  participation  in  the  conquest  of  Britain,  is  easily  accounted  for. 
Says  Eginhard,  of  Charlemagne:  "He  transported  ten  thousand  men  (Saxon  Goths) 
taken  from  both  banks  of  the  Elbe,  together  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  dis- 
tributed them  here  and  there  in  very  small  groups  throughout  Gaul  and  Germany." 
Ten  thousund  men  implies  a  body  of  50,000  men,  women,  and  children. 


13S  ANCIENT    RRITAIN. 

history  of  the  country  is  so  mudcllcd,  that  it  does  not  agree  with  its 
archoeological  monuments,  no  useful  lessons  can  be  drawn  from  it,  and 
the  Gothic  occupation  of  Englandhasbeendeprivedof  allsignificance.* 

Having  now  gained  this  solid  ground  of  vantage  let  us  rest  a  mo- 
ment and  glance  over  the  ancient  texts.  According  to  Tacitus,  the 
dominant  people  of  the  northern  coasts  were  the  Suiones.  These,  he 
said,  ruled  the  adjacent  seas,  ipso  in  oceano.  They  are  not  to  be  con- 
fused with  the  Suevians,  a  Slavic  tribe,  who  braided  their  hair  and 
tied  it  up  intoa  knot  on  top  of  the  head.'  Malte-Brun,  himself  a  Goth, 
connects  Suione  with  Sver  and  Sweden,  and  these  with  Sueria,  or  Si- 
beria, the  northern  country.  If  there  is  anything  reliable  in  all  this, 
Suione  meant  simply  a  Norseman.  Another  verbal  theory  is  that  Suione 
was  a  corruption  of  Saxone.  From  Tacitus  to  Eginhard  not  a  word 
is  said  in  any  author  about  the  Suiones.  Tacitus  describes  them  as  a 
numerous  people,  possessing  a  powerful  marine.  After  this  descrip- 
tion they  suddenly  disappear  from  history  and  only  pop  up  again  in 
the  reign  of  Charlemagne,  whose  biographer  mentions  the  Suiones  and 
Danes  as  one  people — which  of  course  they  were — and  enemies  to  the 
Roman  religion  of  his  master,  which  was  true,  even  if,  as  had  pre- 
viously been  alleged  by  Procopious,  a  portion  of  them  were  Christians 
of  the  Arian  sect.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  Suiones  perished  after 
Tacitus  immortalized  them,  to  reappear  only  when  Charlemagne  sighed 
for  more  religions  to  subdue.  The  term  Saxone  was  used  by  Ptolemy 
and  the  universality  of  his  work  gave  currency  to  the  corruption. 
Whether  Suione  is  derived  from  north,  or  whether  it  was  corrupted 
from  Saxone,  or  whether,  as  another  monkish  verbalist  contends,  Sax- 
one is  from  Saxci,  the  Gothic  word  for  an  axe,  we  deem  of  little  im- 
portance. History  is  too  heavy  a  weight  to  be  suspended  by  a  word, 
and  we  place  far  more  reliance  on  the  appearance  and  habits  of  the 
people.  These  declare  that  in  the  fifth  century  the  entire  northern 
coasts  of  Europe  had  been  conquered  and  inhabited  by  one  race  of 
men,  and  that  that  race  was  the  Gothic. 

The  Angles  of  an  earlier  date  are  alluded  to  by  Tacitus,  but  only 
to  say  that  in  common  with  several  tribes  on  the  coast,  they  especially 
revered  the  goddess  Hertha,  or  Earth,  whose  grove  or  sanctuary  was 
on  a  small  island  in  the  Northern  sea.    This  is  believed  to  mean  the 

*  "  The  name  of  Saxons  was  borne  by  all  the  nations  who  dwelt  on  the  banks  of  the 
Weser  and  the  Elbe,  from  Hamburgh  to  Moravia  and  from  Mentz  to  the  Baltic  sea. 
They,  as  well  as  all  the  north,  were  pagans."  Voltaire's  "  Gen.  Hist.,"  i,  43. 

'  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  Suevians  arrested  the  Gothic  adventurers  who  came 
by  the  North  Cape  and  handed  them  over  to  the  Roman  authorities.  The  Goths  of  a 
subsequent  age  amply  repaid  this  inhospitality. 


THE    GOTHIC    PROVINCE    OF    SAXONY.  139 

island  of  Heligoland,  whose  name  agrees  with  the  ancient  Gothic  name 
of  Norway,  which  was  Halgaland,  or  holy-land.  Hertha,  whose  other 
name  was  Frica,  was  the  Mother  of  God,  one  of  the  divinities  of  the 
Gothic  mythology.  Her  festival  was  celebrated  at  Easter  by  the  sac- 
rifice of  a  hog.®  Balder,  a  divinity  of  the  Angles,  was  that  son  of 
Woden  whose  death  and  resurrection,  after  nine  days,  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  the  earliest  devotions  of  that  tribe.    (Noel.) 

The  Venedians  of  Tacitus,  the  Venicontes  of  North  Britain,  the 
Veneti  who  nearly  captured  Julius  Caesar  in  a  naval  skirmish  off  the 
coast  of  Brittany,  and  the  Vends  or  Vendians  of  Vinland,  so  often 
mentioned  in  the  Norse  sagas  appear  to  have  been  the  same  people, 
or  a  people  from  the  same  place."  Caesar  credits  the  Vendians  with  a 
numerous  fleet  of  oak-built  galleys,  some  of  which  carried  leather 
sails,  and  he  notes  the  rare  skill  with  which  they  were  handled.  Ab- 
sorbed in  the  task  of  reading  his  fellow  countrymen  a  moral  lesson, 
by  means  of  his  treatise  on  Germania,  Tacitus  forgets  to  notice  these 
sails,  which  the  more  practical  Casar  evidently  observed  with  both, 
eyes.  As  to  the  Venedians,  their  galleys  must  have  been  atsea  whea 
the  informants  of  the  Roman  moralist  visited  their  ports ;  for  no  ships 
are  mentioned  and  no  sea-faring  people,  only  a  band  of  wanderers, 
who  lived  upon  the  plunder  of  a  wild  country.  Jornandes,  c.  24,  says 
the  Veneti  wqre  Slavs.  If  there  was  any  foundation  for  this  last  as- 
sertion, which  is  doubtful,  it  was  that  the  Veneti  had  conquered  and 
amalgamated  with  one  of  the  coast  tribes  of  the  Baltic.  It  is  this  mix- 
ture of  Gothic  and  Slavic  blood  and  language,  added  to  the  sweeping- 
use  of  the  word  Germany,  which  has  introduced  so  much  confusion 
into  the  study  of  the  ancient  tribes  of  Europe.  In  the  saga  of  Mag- 
nus the  Good  the  king  says  that  in  his  absence  Denmark  was  oftea 
attacked  by  the  "Vendians,  Courlanders,  and  others,  from  Austrveg 
(lestia)  and  by  the  Saxas  also."  All  these  were  undoubtedly  Gothic 
tribes  who  had  conquered  the  Baltic  coasts,  sometimes  mingling  their 
blood  with  the  natives  and  sometimes  holding  them  in  thraldom. 

After  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones  were  exterminated  by  Marius,  about 

B.C.  100, their  country  (the modern  Holstein, Schleswick,  and  Jutland) 

remaining  entirely  desolate,  until  it  was  re-peopled  by  Gothic  tribes, 

whose  further  movement  into  Europe  may  have  been  accelerated  by 

the  disturbance  in  the  Asiatic  populations,  occasioned  by  Pompey's 

operations  between  the  Euxine  and  Caspian.'"  If,  from  this  timefor- 

®  The  Greeks  sacrificed  a  hog  at  the  same  season  to  Ceres.  Thucydides;  Ovid,  Fasti,  i,  i. 
®  See  also  Herodotus,  Clio,  196,  and  elsewhere  for  allusions  to  the  Venetians  of  11- 
lyria;  also  Guest's  "  Origines  CeltK." 

'"  The  Abbe  Raynal,  "  History  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,"  book  v. 


140  ANCIKNT    BRITAIN. 

ward,  we  follow  the  ancient  authors  who  mention  the  Saxons,  it  will 
be  perceived  that  they  are  alluding  to  these  same  Gothic  tribes,  who 
came  out  of  Asia  and  peopled  the  waste  that  Marius  had  created  by 
exterminating  the  Cimbrians  and  Teutones. 

Ptolemy  locates  the  Saxons  in  the  Cimbric  Chersonesus,  now  known 
as  Denmark."  The  emperor  Julian  couples  the  Franks  and  Saxons 
together  as  one  people.'^  Eutropius  states  that  about  A.D.  287  the 
Franks  and  Saxons  (classing  them  together)  infested  the  coasts  of 
Eelgica  and  Amorica,  that  is  to  say,  Brittany  and  Normandy :  "Quod 
Franci  et  Saxonesinfestabant. "  "  Ammianus  Marcellinus  says:  "The 
Franks  and  Saxons  (Franci  et  Saxones)  were  ravaging  the  districts 
of  Gaul."  "  Sidonius  Apollinarissays:  "  The  Saxons  are  highly  skilled 
in  the  art  of  navigation  and  familiar  with  the  dangers  of  the  sea."  '* 
This  could  only  mean  a  Gothic  tribe.  Procopius  speaks  of  the  Goths, 
Vandals,  and  Gepidre,  as  in  all  respects  one  people,  and  he  describes 
themasof  fair  complexion,  with  reddish  or  yellow  hair,  and  tall, manly, 
forms.  "  They  are  governed  by  the  same  laws  and  customs,  they  were 
formerly  of  the  same  heathen  religion  and  are  now  Christians  of  the 
Arian  sect.  Their  language  is  called  Gothic  and  they  hold  themselves 
to  be  one  nation  descended  from  one  stock. "  Strabo,  Tacitus  and  Ju- 
venal give  the  same  description  and  add  blue  eyes.  This  is  a  descrip- 
tion of  all  the  Gothic  tribes,  but  of  only  a  portion  of  the  German  ones. 
These  various  statements  make  it  evident  that  all  the  maritime  and 
ripuarian  tribes  of  northern  Europe  were  Goths,  that  they  were  origin- 
ally Sun-worshippers,  then  followers  of  Woden  and  afterwards  Arians; 
and  that  they  included  the  Suiones,  Ingrevones,  Angles,  Jutes,  Saxons, 
Salic  Franks,  Vandals,  and  Gepidae."'  The  Vends  were  either  wholly 
or  partly  Gothic,  probably  the  former.  That  the  Angles,  Jutes,  Saxons 
and  Danes  were  all  Goths,  all  maritime  races,  all  worshippers  of  Wo- 
den, was  the  opinion  of  the  learned  Dr.  Henry, who  says:  "Although 
these  nations  were  called  by  different  names  they  were  all  descended 
from  the  same  origin,  spoke  the  same  language,  and  had  the  same 
national  manners  and  customs."  "  If  we  consult  the  Norse  sagas  we 
shall  find  a  complete  confirmation  of  this  view.  The  Rimbegla  (four- 
teenth century)  states  that  in  ancient  times  the  same  language  was 
spoken  in  Saxony  and  Scandinavia.  "For  it  is  truly  told  that  the 
tongue  which  we  call  Norrean  came  with  them  to  the  North  and 

"Geog.,  II,  2.  '-Orat.,  I.  '^  Brev.  History,  ix,  21. 

'*  Rerum  Gestrurum,  lib.,  xxvii,  S;  5.  '^  Lib.,  in,  Epist.  6. 

'^  "  The  Vandals  and  Goths  were  originally  one  great  people.  Plinius  and  Procopius 
agree  in  this  opinion.  They  lived  in  distant  ages  and  possessed  different  means  of  in- 
^•estigating  the  truth."     Gibbon.  "  History  Brit.,  iv,  ii,  89. 


THE    GOTHIC    PROVINCE    OF    SAXONY.  I4I 

was  spoken  in  Saxland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  and  part  of 
England."* 

The  archceological  collections  in  England,  Norway,  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  tell  the  same  story.  They  contain  a  number  of  objects,  such 
as  clothing,  weapons  and  implements,  personal  ornaments, horse  trap- 
pings, etc.,  of  precisely  similar  appearance,  mostly  recovered  from 
graves,  which  objects  are  labelled  in  the  museums  of  the  first  named 
country  "  Anglo-Saxon,"  and  in  the  others  "  Swedish,"  "Norwegian," 
"  Danish,"  or  simply  "  Gothic,"  or  *'  Norse."  Bearing  in  mind  the 
exact  similarity  of  these  objects,  it  is  difficult  to  refrain  from  the 
conclusion  that  they  belonged  to  people  of  a  common  race  or  origin ; 
and  that  the  terms  Goths,  Jutes,  Angles,  Saxons,  Salic  Franks  and 
Northmen  are  convertible.  This  type  of  archaeological  remains  is  not 
found  far  beyond  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  and  North  seas,  chiefly  in 
lestland,  Sweden,  Norway,  Denmark,  Friesland,  Normandy  and  Brit- 
ain ;  no  such  remains  occur  in  interior  Germany  or  Gaul ;  and  the  con- 
clusion appears  irresistible  that  they  belonged  to  maritime  tribes  who 
were  not  connected  with  the  people  of  the  remoter  portions  of  those 
countries.  This  marks  them  as  Gothic.  The  religious  symbol  of  the 
svastica  and  the  runic  signs  found  with  many  of  these  remains  also 
denote  their  Gothic  origin.  The  Goths  wore  their  hair  long,  and 
parted  in  the  middle.  Clovis  and  Clothilde  were  both  called  "the 
long-haired."  Indeed  all  the  Merovingian  Franks  wore  their  hair 
long.''  Contrariwise,  Tacitus,  Seneca,  Martial,  and  Silius  Italicus  all 
remarked  that  the  Suevians  and  other  tribes,  whom  we  know  from 
their  enmity  to  the  Goths  were  not  of  the  same  race,  wore  their  hair 
plaited  and  coiled  up  in  a  knot  on  top  of  the  head,  like  the  Chinese 
of  to-day.  Ancient  Saxony  was  a  Gothic  province  which  included  all 
the  maritime  states  on  the  southern  coasts  of  the  Baltic  and  North 
seas,  and  it  was  from  various  parts  of  this  province  that  aid  was  ob- 
tained for  those  attacks  of  the  Gothic  insurgents  in  Roman  Britain, 
which,  extending  over  several  hundred  years,  ended  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  heptarchical  kingdoms.  The  insurgents  were  Goths  and 
polytheists.  They  were  not  Slavs,  they  were  not  Teutones,  they  were 
not  Alemanni,  (Germans,)  they  were  chiefly  Anglesh-men  and  they 
called  their  new  conquest  Angleland,  and  so  their  descendants  remain, 
and  so  the  land  is  called  to-day. 

For  the  preservation  of  their  identity  the  conquerors  of  Britain  for- 
tunately possessed  a  characteristic  which  no  amount  of  historical  con- 
fusion or  monkish  perversion  has  succeeded  either  in  effacing  or  con- 

'*  Rimbegla,  in,  i.  ''' Guizot,  iii,  67. 


142  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

•cealing.  They  were  born  sailors,  they  lived  upon  the  sea,  ipso  in 
oceano,  and  when  they  died,  they  asked  to  be  buried  in  it,  or  upon 
some  eminence  from  whence  it  could  be  seen.  More  Gothic  than  any- 
thing else  about  them,  was  their  maritime  character  and  their  love  of 
ships.  In  these  they  made  their  homes,  with  these  they  built  their 
tombs,  and  from  these,  in  after  times,  they  patterned  their  lofty  ca- 
thedral arches.  This  maritime  character  marked  the  northern  Goths 
at  their  first  appearance  upon  the  pages  of  history;  it  marked  them, 
"when,  before  the  Christian  sera,  they  overran  the  northern  coasts  of 
Europe  and  appeared  in  Britain;  it  marked  them  when  afterwards 
they  stretched  across  the  Western  ocean  and  reached  America ;  and  it 
marks  their  descendants  who  occupy  both  sides  of  that  ocean  to-day. 
Says  Grotius  of  the  maritime  laws  of  Wisby:  "Quae  de  maritimis 
negotiis  insula  Gothlandiae  habitatoribus  placuerunt  tantum  in  se  hab- 
€nt  tum  equitates  tum  prudentise  ut  omnes  oceani  accolae  eo,  non  tan- 
quam  proprio,  sed  velut  gentium,  jure  utantur. "  ''" 

The  Sagas  of  the  pagan  Goths  may  have  been  destroyed  or  per- 
verted; the  marks  of  their  race  upon  the  developement  of  Britain  may 
have  been  effaced  or  distorted;  but  their  archaeological  remains  and 
numismatic  monuments  survive;  and  these  shed  enough  light  upon 
their  achievements  and  policy  to  prove,  at  least,  the  important  part 
they  played  in  the  developement  of  English  character  and  social 
life.^'  The  conquest  not  only  of  Britain  but  of  all  the  Western  prov- 
inces of  Rome,  as  well  as  the  Discovery  of  America  in  the  eleventh 
century,  was  effected  by  the  Goths, who,  because  they  refused  to  yield 
at  once  to  the  Roman  church,  have  been  robbed  of  the  glory  of  these 
great  achievements.  On  the  contrary,  the  German  tribes  never  pos- 
sessed any  ships  and  understood  nothing  of  navigation. 

In  Tacitus'  account  of  the  German  tribes,  A.D.  98,  none  of  them 
are  described  as  possessing  any  boats  or  ships.     Neither  Strabo  nor 
Ptolemy  describe  any  of  those  tribes  as  maritime.   Afterwards,  during 
the  decline  of  the  Roman  power,  the  entire  sea-coasts  of  the  north 
fell  into  possession  of  the  Goths,  and  during  the  third,  fourth,  and 
fifth  centuries,  they  frequently  sailed  up  the  northern  rivers  and  sacked 
the  towns  of  Upper  Germany,  escaping  to  the  sea  with  their  booty. 
Sidonius  Apollinaris,  a  writer  of  the  fifth  century,  says:    "  The  Sax- 
ons are  well  acquainted  with  the  art  of  navigation  and  familiar  with 
the  dangers  of  the  sea. ""  Indeed,  these  maritime  raids  of  the  Norse- 
^°  Prolegomena  ad  Procopium,  p.  64;  McCulloch,  Geog.  Die,  art.  "Gotland." 
^^  Sir  F.  Palgrave,  vol.  i,  chapter  3,  shows  that  analogous  Gothic  customs  prevailed 
in  England,  Spain,  Lombardy,  Sa.xony,  etc.,  in  short.wherever  Gothic  arms  prevailed. 
^-  Liber,  iii,  Epistola,  6. 


THE    GOTHIC    PROVINCE     OF    SAXONY.  I43 

men  were  continued  down  to  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  who  is  said  to 
have  shed  tears  at  his  inability  to  pursue  them  on  the  sea  and  punish 
them." 

On  the  other  hand,  no  German  fleet  ever  attacked  these  Goths,  or 
repulsed  them  from  their  rivers  or  settlements.  If  the  Germans  could 
not  defend  their  own  homes  from  the  Goths,  how  can  it  be  believed 
that  they  successfully  conducted  a  maritime  expedition  to  Britain, 
across  a  sea  infested  by  Goths?  As  the  date  of  the  pretended  invasion 
of  Britain  by  Hengist  and  Horsa  tallies  with  the  period  of  the  inva- 
sion of  Germany,  Saxony,  and  Gaul  by  the  Chinese  Huns,  under  At- 
tila,  it  is  possible  that  the  legends  of  Gildas  and  Nennius  were  invented, 
for  one  reason,  in  order  to  account  for  the  presence  of  the  Germans 
who  fled  before  these  fierce  destroyers  and  gained  a  refuge  in  Britain. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  at  this  period  the  Gothic  tribes 
were  in  almost  undisputed  possession  of  the  open  parts  of  Britain, 
their  sway  only  being  broken  by  the  walled  towns  still  held  by  the  Ro- 
mano-British. Consequently  the  Germans  who  entered  Britain,  if  they 
entered  it  at  all  at  this  period,  did  so,  not  as  conquerors  of  the  Ro- 
mans, but  as  guests  of  the  Goths.  As  such,  their  numbers  must  have 
been  comparatively  small  and  their  influence  nil. 

When  Alfred  determined  to  oppose  the  Goths  upon  their  favourite 
element,  it  took  him  four  years  to  construct  the  six  small  vessels  with 
which  he  put  to  sea  in  875.  After  the  victory  of  his  land  forces  over 
the  Gothic  host  at  Eddington,  in  878,  he  built  a  larger  fleet,  but  was 
obliged  to  man  it  with  recruits  from  the  ranks  of  his  enemies,  or  with 
pirates,  as  the  Goths  were  then  called  by  the  Christians.  To  these 
he  added  certain  ripuarian  Saxons  and  Frisians,  whom  he  invited  to 
come  from  the  Continent,  and  all  of  whom  were  probably  of  Gothic 
origin  or  admixture.  There  was  no  help  for  it.  The  Goths  and  their 
Gotho-Slavic  broods,  were  the  only  seamen  of  those  times.  The  ear- 
liest notice  of  any  naval  progress  on  the  part  of  the  Germans  occurs 
during  the  asra  of  Charlemagne,  but  this  merely  relates  to  a  fleet  of 
river  boats,  built  to  repel  the  dreaded  invasions  of  the  Northmen.** 
The  Germans  had  no  sea-boats,  knew  nothing  of  navigation, and  dared 
not  venture  upon  the  sea.  Contrariwise,  the  Goths  had  been  seamen 
and  hardy  navigators  at  all  times  since  the  dawn  of  northern  history. 
Says  Tacitus  of  the  Suiones:  "  In  addition  to  the  strength  of  their 
armies,  they  have  a  powerful  naval  force.  The  form  of  their  ship  is 
peculiar.    Every  vessel  has  a  prow  at  each  end  and  by  that  contrivance 

'' Chateaubriand, Etudes  Historiques;  Alvaies,  History  Fr.,  p.  103. 

'■•  Eginhard's  Life  of  Charlemagne,  and  Voltaire's  General  History,  i,  55. 


144  ANCIENT    IJRITAIN 

is  always  ready  to  make  head  either  way."  This  is  precisely  the  shape 
of  the  Norse  ships  which  were  used  as  mausoleums  and  have  been  ex- 
humed in  modern  days  at  Sandefiord  and  other  places  in  Scandinavia, 
several  of  which  were  examined  by  the  writer  during  a  visit  to  Norway. 
This  burial  custom,  more  than  any  other,  marks  the  maritime  charac- 
ter of  the  Goths.  When  it  was  too  expensive  or  inconvenient  to  bury  the 
remains  of  their  heroes  in  actual  ships,  as  many  of  them  were  buried, 
they  were  deposited  in  ship-shaped  tumuli  erected  on  some  head-land 
of  the  coast.  The  sea  had  been  their  home  during  life,  it  was  the  dy- 
ing wish  of  these  rovers  to  lie  close  to  it  even  after  death.  The  ex- 
peditions both  of  Eric  the  Red  and  of  Columbus  were  undertaken  by 
Goths :  Columbus  himself  being  one  of  the  few  adventurers  in  his  own 
fleet,  who  was  not  of  Gothic  blood.  From  any  point  of  view,  this 
race  was  therefore  the  first  to  cross  the  Western  ocean.  To-day  they 
occupy  both  shores  of  it,  the  Norsemen  in  Scandinavia,  the  so-called 
Anglo-Saxons  in  Britain  and  America,  the  Franks  in  France,  and  the 
Visigoths  in  Spain.  Their  shipping  almost  entirely  monopolizes  its 
commerce;  so  that  among  the  twenty  odd  maritime  flags  of  the  world, 
scarcely  more  than  one  is  ever  to  be  seen  on  the  Atlantic  that  is  not 
of  Gothic  origin." 

'^^  Hidalgo,  the  Spanish  term  for  a  nobleman,  (in  Portuguese,  Fidalgo,)  is  from  fijo- 
dal-Goda,  afterwards  hijo-dal-Goda,  "the  son  of  a  Goth."  It  originated  during  the 
Visigothic  supremacy  in  Spain  and  was  used  as  a  term  of  distinction  for  the  sons  of 
that  conquering  race.  The  Spanish  proverb  that  the  king  (however  powerful)  "can- 
not make  an  hidalgo  "  sufficiently  confirms  the  origin  and  significance  of  the  term. 
Hampson,  "  Origines  Patricite." 


145 


CHAPTER    XV. 

DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER. 

Evangelization  of  Gaul  and  Britain — Of  Saxony — Altered  policy  of  the  Church — 
Extermination  of  the  Saxons — Of  the  Avars — The  plunder  sent  to  Rome — Papal  in- 
struments—  Charles  Martel — Pepin — Charlemagne — Henry  the  Fowler  —  Edward — 
Otto — The  Teutonic  Knights  of  St.  Mary — The  Gothic  Hansa  of  the  dark  ages — The 
ruined  cities  of  Julin,  Winet,  Bardewick,  Luneburg,  Old  Novgorod,  etc. — They  are 
destroyed  by  order  of  the  Medieval  popes  and  emperors,  and  their  inhabitants  slaugh- 
tered, or  else  enslaved  and  transported — Creation  of  a  christian  Hansa  in  the  thirteenth 
century — This  is  planted  upon  the  ruins  of  the  other. 

THE  evangelization  of  Gaul  appears  to  have  preceded  that  of  Brit- 
ain by  more  than  a  century.  The  first  christian  chieftain  of 
Gaul  is  said  to  have  been  Clovis,  whilst  the  first  christian  chieftain  of 
Britain  was  Ethelbert  of  Kent,  fully  a  century  later.  The  reason  for 
this  difference  in  time  was  probably  the  preponderance  of  druidical 
worshippers  in  Gaul  and  of  Gothic  polytheists  in  Britain.  The  church 
of  Rome,  as  well  when  it  was  pagan,  as  afterwards  when  it  became 
christian,  had  been  in  the  habit  of  making  concessions  to  druidism; 
but  it  had  not  yet  learnt  how  to  conciliate  the  fierce  worshippers  of 
Woden  and  Thor.  The  Gauls  were  accustomed  to  hierarchical  rule; 
the  Goths  refused  to  be  forced  or  urged,  and  had  to  be  lured  into  it; 
and,  as  this  process  was  interrupted  by  frequent  recantations  on  their 
part,  the  good  work  went  on  but  slowly. 

By  the  eighth  century  the  church  had  conquered  in  Gaul,  not  merely, 
as  in  Britain,  a  number  of  separate  chieftains,  whose  fealty  might  be 
lost  at  any  time,  it  had  utilized  the  ancient  priests  of  Hesus  to  evan- 
gelize (as  it  was  deemed)  an  entire  people.'  The  druids  were  not  dif- 
ficult to  conciliate.  The  restoration  of  their  livings,  the  prospect  of 
ecclesiastical  promotion,  and  the  retention  and  liberal  adoption  of 
their  sacred  myths,  symbols,  ceremonies,  and  festivals,  such  were  evi- 

'  The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry,  (Hist.  Brit.,i,i,  155,)  identifies  theGaulic and Gallician  god 
Hesus  with  the  Hebrew  N'Izzuz,  "  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle."  The  name  is  omitted 
in  the  Eng.  trans,  of  Psalms,  xxiv.,  8,  although  it  appears  in  the  original  Hebrew. 


146  ANCIENT    liKITAIN. 

deiUly  the  means  employed  to  convert  these  formidable  enemies  of 
Christianity  into  tractable  followers.  We  do  not  continue  to  set  up 
Christmas-trees  and  mistletoe-boughs  for  nothing;  they  mark  some 
of  the  numerous  concessions  which  our  forefathers,  struggling  against 
a  world  filled  with  low  forms  of  religion,  were  obliged  to  make  to 
tlruidism.  Nor  was  the  evangelization  of  Gaul  itself  effected  in  a  day. 
Between  the  conversion  of  Clovis  and  the  evangelization  of  Gaul,  two 
centuries  elapsed. 

It  was  in  the  eighth  century,  then,  that  the  church  in  Gaul  ceased 
to  concede,  and  by  a  revulsion  of  policy — which,  though  natural  en- 
ough at  that  period,  our  far  more  elevated  Christianity  of  to-day  would 
condemn — became  aggressive.  Among  the  instruments  of  this  aggres- 
sion were  Pepin  of  Heristal,  the  grandson  of  Arnoul  or  Arnulf,  bishop 
of  Metz,  in  Austrasia,^  and  Pepin's  illegitimate  descendants,  Charles 
Martel,  Pepin  le  Bref  and  Charlemagne;  all  of  whom  were  success- 
ively employed  in  the  endeavour  to  plant  the  Roman  gospel  in  Gothic 
Saxony  and  the  Low  Countries.  Hitherto  this  planting  had  been  of 
a  persuasive  character ;  in  the  eighth  century,  if  the  statues  of  Woden 
and  Thor  could  have  foreseen  what  was  coming,  they  would  have  ex- 
uded crimson  tears. 

In  the  tragedies  prepared  for  the  entertainment  of  refined  audiences 
the  interludes  are  often  filled  with  comic  passages;  in  the  gruesome 
drama  of  the  Medieval  empire  all  the  scenes  are  filled  with  atrocious 
deeds.  From  the  extermination  of  the  Saxons  to  that  of  the  Albigenses, 
from  the  extermination  of  the  Albigenses  to  that  of  the  native  races 
of  America,  the  medieval  emperors  knew  but  one  way  of  extending 
their  realms  and  the  popes  but  one  method  of  disseminating  the  gos- 
pel, and  that  was  with  the  sword.  Blood,  blood,  blood,  was  the  eternal 
cry  of  Europe.  The  ancients,  who  in  story-books  and  in  fanciful  paint- 
ings of  the  Colisseum,  are  represented  as  monsters  of  cruelty,  were  mere 
tyros  in  throat-cutting, compared  with  the  pious  monarchs  of  medieval 
Europe.  The  Arabs,  whose  apostle  we  feelingly  depict  with  the  Ko- 
ran in  one  hand  and  a  scymeter  in  the  other,  were  meek  Iambs  com- 
pared with  the  popes.  The  ancient  Romans  subjugated  and  enslaved, 
but  did  not  exterminate,  the  aborigines  of  Europe;  the  Arabs  offered 
the  more  generous  alternative  of  tribute, or  conversion;  but  the  evan- 
gels of  the  medieval  age  were  seldom  satisfied  with  either  enslave- 
ment or  tribute.   Their  policy  was  far  more  drastic  and  rarely  stopped 

*  This  Arnoul,  if  not  indeed  an  altogether  mythical  personage,  must  have  flourished 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century.  Some  authorities  regard  Pepin  Heristal  asthe 
grandson  of  Pepin  of  Lunden,  or  Landen,  a  place  near  the  modern  Brussels. 


DESTRUCTION    OK    THI,    GOTHIC    POWKR.  I47 

short  of  complete  extinction/  Let  not  the  reader  make  the  mistake 
of  supposing  that  the  motive  of  these  avowals  is  to  depreciate  a  re- 
ligion which  we  have  elsewhere  proclaimed  shall  outlast  all  others; 
on  the  contrary,  its  object  is  to  uphold  and  maintain  it,  by  removing 
the  frail  fictions  which  have  hitherto  been  relied  upon  for  its  defence, 
but  which,  it  is  plain  enough,  can  be  relied  upon  no  longer,  and  by 
substituting  in  their  place,  the  solid  bulwark  of  truth. 

If  Charlemagne  could  have  launched  and  manrted  a  fleet  of  war- 
ships on  the  Baltic,  the  Gothic  race  would  probably  have  been  entirely 
exterminated.  As  he  could  not  reach  Upsala  or  York, he  tore  Barde- 
wick  to  pieces,  levelled  Luneburg  to  the  dust  and  distributed  such  of 
their  inhabitants  as  survived  the  slaughter,  to  improve  the  breed  of 
his  evangelized  subjects.  Ten  thousand  families  of  them  were  sent 
to  the  remote  parts  of  Germany  and  Gaul.  For  more  than  thirty  years 
he  continued  this  savage  policy  towards  Gothic  Saxony,  slaying,  burn- 
ing and  torturing  the  heathen,  uprooting,  destroying  and  scattering 
them  to  the  winds;  and, when  sated  with  blood  and  exhausted  by  holy 
ardour,  he  returned  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  it  was  only  to  equip  himself 
for  a  similar  attack  upon  the  Avars.  Says  Enginhard  (his  secretary) : 
"  How  many  battles  were  fought  and  how  much  blood  was  shed,  is 
fully  attested  by  the  complete  depopulation  of  Pannonia — even  the 
Royal  palace  of  the  Chagan  is  so  obliterated  that  no  trace  remains  of 
a  human  habitation.''  In  this  war  perished  the  entire  nobility  of  the 
Avars,  their  very  nationality  was  destroyed.  All  their  riches  and  treas- 
ures, which  they  had  long  been  accumulating,  w^ere  carried  away,  nor 
can  memory  recall  any  war  of  the  Franks"  (which  here  means  Ger- 
mans) "in  which  they  gained  greater  booty,  or  by  which  they  have 
been  more  enriched.  Indeed  we  may  confess  that  up  to  this  time, the 
Franks  (Germans)  appeared  to  be  a  poor  nation;  but  so  much  gold 
and  silver  was  found  in  the  palace  of  the  Chagan  *  and  such  a  quan- 
tity of  valuable  spoil  was  taken  in  the  battles,  as  can  scarcely  be  be- 
lieved. The  Franks  (Germans)  justly  spoiled  the  Huns  of  this  booty, 
for  the  Huns  themselves  had  no  right  to  it,  it  being  the  plunder  they 
captured  from  others." 

It  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  it  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel  who 
wrote  thus  lightly  of  spoil,  death  and  extermination  ;  but  such  is  nev- 
theless  the  fact.  A  similar  degree  of  moral  turpitude  will  be  found 
displayed  upon  every  page  of  medieval  history.  Charlemagne's  mo- 
tives are  avowed  candidly  enough:      "He  (Charlemagne)  held  the 

*  Compare  Deut.,  vii,  2;  a  text  which  they  never  forgot. 

The  Magyars, worshippers  of  Isten,  did  not  enter  Hungary  until  about  A.U.  SS7. 

•  The  title  suggests  that  of  the  secular  king  of  Japan:  the  shogun. 


148  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

church  of  the  blessed  Peter  the  Apostle,  at  Rome,  in  far  higher  re- 
gard than  any  other  place  of  sanctity  and  veneration  "  (he  was  crowned 
there)  "and  he  enriched  its  treasury  with  a  great  quantity  of  gold, 
silver  and  gems.  To  the  pope  he  made  many  rich  presents,  and  noth- 
ing lay  nearerer  his  heart,  during  his  whole  reign,  than  that  the  city 
of  Rome  should  attain  to  its  ancient  importance  by  his  zeal  and  pat- 
ronage and  that  the  church  of  St.  Peter  should,  through  him,  not  only 
be  in  safe  keeping  and  protection,  but  should  also,  by  his  wealth,  be 
ennobled  and  enriched  beyond  all  other  churches." 

To  enrich  the  church,  toadprn  it  like  the  pagan  temples  of  antiquity, 
with  gold  and  silver  vessels  and  rich  hangings  and  pictures,  this  was 
the  dream,  alike  of  the  conquerors  of  Europe  and  America.  After 
loading  it  with  wealth  during  his  lifetime,  Charlemagne  bequeathed 
to  this  church  nearly  half  of  his  treasure  and  the  administration  of 
the  remainder  after  death.  In  the  same  way  did  the  conquerors  of 
Mexico,  Guatemala  and  Peru  pave  with  silver  bricks  the  roads  upon 
which  bishops  were  to  ride  and  bequeath  bags  of  golden  pesos  for 
masses  to  the  repose  of  their  own  souls.  The  method  of  dealing  with 
the  persons  and  property  of  pagans,  which  Charlemagne  was  made  the 
instrument  of  inaugurating,  though  often  compelled  to  be  laid  aside, 
during  the  long  conflict  between  pope  and  emperor  which  followed 
his  death,  was  nevertheless  not  forgotten;  and  the  experience  which 
Guelfs  and  Ghibellines  acquired  in  the  art  of  killing  one  another,  was, 
in  the  intervals  of  the  quarrel,  turned  to  ampler  account  in  their  united 
efforts  to  exterminate  heresy.  Whenever  pope  and  emperor  sounded 
a  temporary  cessation  of  hostilities,  then  the  heretical  Goths,  Mos- 
lems and  Jews  had  cause  to  tremble. 

Between  927  and  1162  the  various  emperors  of  the  West,  among 
them  Henry  the  Fowler, Otto  I.,  and  Conrad  III., and  in  the  last  named 
year  Henry  Lion,  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  and  Saxony,  employed  their 
leisure  in  despoiling  and  exterminating  the  coast-tribes  of  Vandals 
and  their  thralls  the  Slavs,  and  supplying  their  places  with  christians 
brought  from  other  places.  Those  who  were  not  killed  or  driven  out 
of  the  country,  were  sold  into  slavery,  the  Slavs  to  the  Danes,  and 
the  Vandals  to  the  Poles  and  Bohemians.  Such  was  the  manner  in 
which  Christianity  was  introduced  into  these  countries."  "Whereby," 
saysHelmoldus,  referring  to  this  transaction,  "  the  bishops  and  clergy 
of  Saxony  rejoiced  much,  as  the  churches  were  increased  as  well  as 
the  tithes. "  '     In  1 109,  when  Henry  Lion  conquered  the  once  rich  isle 

*  Anderson's  History  of  Commerce,  i,  153-159. 

'  Chron.  Slavorum,  written  about  A.D.  I170,  lib.,  11,  chap.  89. 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER.  I49 

of  Rugen,  he  found  the  pagan  Goths  using  linen-cloth  for  money,  a 
sure  sign  of  petty  trade  and  general  poverty.  Indeed  the  tribute  of 
4400  marks  which  he  laid  upon  them,  could  not  be  paid.* 

In  1080  Canute  IV.,  king  of  Denmark,  tried  to  persuade  the  Livon- 
ians,  whom  he  claimed  as  his  tributary  subjects,  to  adopt  Christianity; 
but  he  did  not  succeed.  In  1172  the  Lubeckers  sent  some  mission- 
aries by  sea  to  Livonia,  but  they  failed  to  convert  the  pagans.  In  1 198, 
the  Bremeners  founded  Riga,built  afort  on  the  Duna,  erected  a  chapel, 
and  appointed  Albert  bishop  of  the  country.  Then  they  called  in  the 
Teutonic  monk-knights,  to  whom  the  bishop  granted  one-third  of  the 
land  belonging  to  the  Livonian  pagans.  After  having  plundered  and 
-driven  away  the  latter,  the  country  was  planted  with  christian  colo- 
nists and  thus  rendered  tributary  to  the  pope.'  In  1160  Henry  Lion 
captured,  sacked  and  destroyed  the  Gothic  city  of  Kessin  in  Meck- 
lenburg, and  out  of  its  materials  he  walled  and  fortified  the  city  of 
Rostock,  until  then  an  obscure  village.  The  inhabitants  of  Kessin 
were  slain  or  driven  away,  and  their  places  supplied  with  christians 
planted  in  Rostock.'" 

Han  or  hong  is  a  Mongolian  word,  meaning  a  clan,  corporation,  guild, 

company,  or  association.    Hansa  is  its  Latin  form.    The  Gothic  race 

appears  to  have  brought  this  term  into  Europe  in  the  form  of  han; 

the  Huns,  a  Chinese  race,  who  had  been  conquered  by  the  Mongols 

and  driven  away  from  Tartary,  brought  the  term  into  Europe  in  the 

form  of  hong."   In  that  distorted  and  distracting  narrative  of  events 

which  the  church  of  Rome  has  substituted  for  the  history  of  Europe, 

there  is  no  mention  of  a  pagan  Hanseatic  league,  nor  of  the  famous 

towns  which  belonged  to  it  and  which  were  plundered  and  destroyed 

by  Charles  Martel,  Charlemagne  and  other  christian  princes,  nor  of 

the  treasure  which  Charlemagne  obtained  and  which  his  priest-ridden 

grandson  Lothaire  presented  to  the  See  of  Rome,  nor  of  the  cost  of 

this  treasure  in  blood  and  tears  and  sweat.      It  will  be  necessary  to 

briefly  supply  some  of  these  expurgated  particulars.   To  begin  with, 

the  numbers,  riches  and  commerce  of  the  Baltic  Vends,  Vendiansor 

Venetians,  was  so  great  in  the  time  of  Strabo  that  that  geographer 

■called  their  sea,  Sinus  Venedicus,  or  the  Venetian  Gulf.   The  nature 

and  extent  of  their  commerce  is  more  particularly  mentioned  by  the 

medieval  writers. 

Werdenhagen  and  other  authors  assert  that  ages  before  the  estab- 

**  Helmodus,  i,  39;  Anderson,  i,  143. 

'Anderson,  i,  157.  '"Anderson,  i,  159. 

"  Han  is  the  proper  name  of  China.    (Fa-Hian,  in  Beal,  i,  xlv.)  The  modern  com- 
panies of  Hungarian  militia  are  called  honveds. 


150  ANCIENT    liKITAIN. 

lishnicnt  of  tlie  christian  liansa,  there  existed  a  number  of  important 
commercial  cities  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  and  North  seas  and  upon 
the  lower  banks  of  the  rivers  that  empty  into  them,  including  the 
Volkof,  Dwina,  Memel,  Vistula,  Oder,  Rhine,  Elbe,  Aller, P>ms, lessel, 
and  Weser,  the  last  named  river  flowing  through  the  ancient  country 
of  the  Salian  Franks:  that  among  these  cities  were  Dantzic, (Danes- 
wick,)  Julin,  Winet  or  Venet,  Bardewick,  Munster,  Dortmund,  Xime- 
guen.  Tie!  and  Deventer;  that  the  confederacy  included  such  distant 
places  as  Novgorod,  a  Gothic  settlement  on  the  Volkof.  and  Cologne 
on  the  Rhine;  that  these  cities  were  all  connected  together  in  a  han, 
or  confederacy;  that  as  between  themselves  they  practiced  freedom 
of  trade;  and  that  they  were  either  entirely  destroyed  or  conquered 
and  their  inhabitants  put  to  the  sword,  or  banished  to  make  room  for 
christians, who  were  substituted  in  their  places,  in  either  the  same  or 
a  similar  confederacy. 

Julin  is  described  by  Adam  of  Bremen, writing  about  the  year  1080, 
as  being  situated  on  the  isle  of  Wollin,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Oder,  on  the  Baltic  shore  of  Pomerania.  He  calls  it  "  the  noble  and 
renowned -city  of  Julin,  a  most  celebrated  mart  both  for  barbarians 
and  Greeks,"  meaning,  possibly,  pagans  and  christians,  and  he  says, 
that  the  Saxons  are  permitted  to  live  there  "provided  they  do  not 
publicly  profess  Christianity."  '*  He  concludes  with  the  remark  that 
"although  the  city  still  remained  in  paganism,  nevertheless  in  point 
of  justice  and  hospitality,  no  people  whatever  are  more  honourable 
and  generous.  This  city  is  filled  with  the  merchandise  of  all  the  north- 
ern nations  and  abounds  in  everything  that  is  curious  and  rare."  Hel- 
moldus  regarded  it  as  the  greatest  city  in  Europe.'^  Peter  Heylyn 
gives  it  the  name  of  Wollin.  Meursius,  in  his  Historia  Danica,  calls  it 
the  capital  and  principal  town  of  the  Vandals;  and  Gibbon  says  the 
Vandals  were  Goths. 

There  are  various  accounts  of  the  destruction  of  Julin,  the  most 
probable  one  being  that  about  1130  it  was  sacked,  depopulated  and 
occupied  by  christian  forces;  and  that  some  fifty  years  after  it  had 
thus  been  plundered  and  evangelized,  it  was  attacked  by  a  fleet  of 
Goths  under  the  command  of  Waldemar  I.,  king  of  Denmark,  who 
burnt  it  to  the  ground.  What  was  left  of  its  commerce  after  this  event, 
went  to  Lubeck.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  sought  refuge  in  the  sur- 
rounding country,  and  (notwithstanding  their  alleged  evangelization) 

'^  Probably  the  christianized  Saxons  sent  by  Canute  IV. 

"  Hehnoldus  was  a  christian  priest  employed  in  the  work  of  converting  the  pagans. 
The  "noble  city  of  Julin"  is  alluded  to  by  Adam  of  Bremen,  Hist.  Ecc,  p.  19,  who 
is  cited  by  Gibbon,  v,  564;?. 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER.  151 

down  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  thirteenth  century  they  were  noted 
for  paganism,  to  which  it  seems  they  had  returned.  The  date  of  the 
destruction  of  Julin  nearly  coincides  with  that  of  the  estabhshment 
of  the  christian  hansa  in  the  newly  erected  city  of  Lubeck,  which  event, 
Werdenhagen, antedates  about  forty  years  by  assigning  it  to  the  year 
1 169.  The  hansa  after  having  been  cleansed  of  its  pagan  proprietors 
and  members,  settled  upon  Lubeck  for  its  head-city,  adopted  a  con- 
stitution similar  to  that  which  had  governed  the  Gothic  hansa,  and 
after  an  interval,  it  elected  for  its  protector,  the  Grand  Master  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Teutonic  Order. 

Winet  or  Venet,is  described  by  Helmoldus  as  being  situated  on  the 
island  of  Usedom,  not  far  from  Wollin,  a  circumstance  that,  coupled 
with  the  superlative  terms  used  in  its  description,  suggests  the  pos- 
sibility of  Winet  and  Julin  having  been  the  same  town  under  two  dif- 
ferent names,  the  former  Gothic,  the  latter  christian.  Winet  was  cap- 
tured by  the  christians  on  or  about  1127,  in  which  year  22,000  of  its 
citizens,  those  left  from  the  slaughter,  were  baptized. 

The  allusions  to  Venet  which  occur  in  the  pages  of  Werdenhagen, 
Meursius,  Heylyn  and  Anderson,  confirm  the  view  that  this  famous 
city  was  also  called  Julin ;  in  other  words,  that  both  names  related  to 
the  same  place.  It  appears  that  during  or  after  the  siege  '  'the  Swedes 
from  the  island  of  Gotland  "  carried  away  from  it  "  whatever  was  cu- 
rious in  workmanship  and  ornaments,  either  in  iron,  brass,  or  marble; 
as  also  tools,  instruments,  or  vessels  of  silver,  copper,  or  tin;  and 
amongst  other  things,  two  brazen  gates  of  a  vast  weight;  and  that 
from  thence  sprang  the  splendour  and  wealth  of  the  once  famous  city 
of  Wisby  and  its  stately  houses,  more  splendid  than  even  the  palaces 
of  Nuremburg  or  Cologne."  (Anderson.)  Not  many  years  after  the 
capture  of  Venet  by  the  christians,  the  dykes  that  protected  it  from 
the  sea  were  destroyed,  whether  accidentally  or  by  design  is  not  re- 
lated, and  the  entire  city  was  overwhelmed.  According  to  Ander- 
son,citing  Werdenhagen,  "  its  foundations  may  yet  be  discovered  and 
even  some  of  its  streets,  as  also  the  ruins  of  many  magnificent  struc- 
tures; and  although  the  sea  covers  the  greatest  part  of  its  ruins,  yet 
that  part  of  them  which  is  seen,  is  much  larger  than  the  whole  cir- 
cumference of  the  city  of  Lubeck." 

Bardewick  (Badhr-wick)  a  pagan  city  of  the  first  class,  stood  about 
a  mile  north  of  Luneburg,(Linonia), also  a  pagan  city,and  bothof  them 
very  ancient.  They  were  captured  and  sacked  by  Charlemagne,  about 
the  year  800  to  810.'*     The  inhabitants  were  slaughtered  or  driven 

'*  Eginhard. 


152  ANCIENT    liRITAIN* 

forth  and  their  places  filled  with  christians.  Charlemagne  made  Bar- 
dewick  a  bishop's  see  and  subjected  it  to  ecclesiastical  rule.  Not- 
withstanding its  change  of  inhabitants,  it  seems  to  have  remained  a 
place  of  some  importance  until  the  destruction  of  Winet,  possibly  be- 
cause a  commercial  intercourse  was  still  maintained  between  these 
anciently  confederated  cities  of  the  hansa.  There  is  a  charter  extant 
of  the  emperor  Lothaire  II.,  dated  at  Bardewick,  in  the  year  1 137. 

Whilst  Frederick  Barbarosa  and  the  Count  of  Holstein  were  absent 
in  the  second  crusade,  Henry  Lion,  who  zealously  supported  the  pa- 
pal See,  captured  the  cities  of  Lubeck,  Staden,  Hamburg  and  Barde- 
wick, In  his  attempt  upon  the  last  named  place,  the  citizens  are  said 
to  have  defied  him  from  the  walls  in  so  insulting  a  manner,  that  when 
the  city  was  taken,  he  levelled  it  to  the  ground.  Its  trade  was  there- 
upon divided  between  Luneburg,  Hamburg  and  Lubeck ;  and  upon  its 
site  grew  up  an  obscure  hamlet  by  the  same  name.  The  story  of  the 
insult  smells  of  the  cloister;  and  as  the  same  fate  befell  all  the  cities 
of  the  pagan  hansa,  whether  their  citizens  were  rude  or  polite,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  believe  it.  The  various  places  captured  by  Henry 
Lion  were  retaken  from  him  when  the  emperor  returned  from  Pales- 
tine, and  were  restored  to  the  Count  of  Holstein.  Even  the  hereditary 
dominions  of  Henry  Lion,  including  Bavaria  and  Saxony,  were  be- 
stowed upon  other  princes,  and  he  himself  was  proscribed  at  the  Diet 
of  Wurtzburg,  1180.  Upon  this,  he  went  to  England,  and  there  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  good  offices  of  his  father-in-law,  who,  inter- 
ceding in  his  behalf  with  the  emperor,  the  latter  forgave  him  and  re- 
stored him  to  his  dominions.  These  now  included  the  city  of  Luneburg. 

The  ancient  city  of  Novgorod  (Novgorod  Veliki)  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  modern  city  of  Nijni  Novgorod.  Although  the  two 
were  not  very  far  apart,  the  former  was  on  the  Volkof,  while  the  lat- 
ter is  on  the  Volga.  The  province  of  Novgorod  appears  to  have  en- 
joyed great  prosperity  when  in  the  hands  of  the  Goths  of  the  fifth 
century.  At  this  period  their  domains  comprised  the  whole  of  the 
modern  countries  of  St.  Petersburg  and  Great  Novgorod, then  known 
as  Holmgard.  South  and  east  of  this  lay  Gardariki,  which  was  des- 
tined to  succumb  to  Gothic  rule  in  the  following  century,  when  one 
of  their  kings,  Ivan  Vidfami, reigned  at  once  over  Northumbria,  (Eng- 
land,) Sweden,  Denmark,  and  the  coasts  of  Saxony,  that  is  to  say, 
Hanover,  Mecklenburg,  Pomerania  and  the  Baltic  provinces.'^  "All 
the  people  of  the  coast  between  the  Rhine  and  Vistula  spoke  a  very 
similar  language."  '^  They  included  the  Welatabi,  Sorabi,  Abroditi, 
'^  Ynglinga  Saga,  c.  45-6;  Saxo-Grammaticus;  Durham,  28S-9.        '^  Eginhard,  58. 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    GOTHIC    POWER.  153 

and  Boemanus  (all  Slavs). "  In  the  seventh  century  a  considerable  trade 
must  have  existed  between  Novgorod,  Mikliardi,  (Byzantium,)  and 
the  possessions  newly  acquired  by  the  Arabians  in  the  Orient;  and  it 
seems  probable  that  this  trade  was  continued  by  the  pagan  Hansa  un- 
der an  incorporation  granted  or  recognized  by  the  Basileus  down  to 
the  Fall  of  Constantinople."  Near  Novgorod  a  vase  has  been  dug  up 
containing  so  large  a  number  of  Arabian  and  Oriental  coins,  that  if 
reduced  to  bullion  they  would  fetch  about  ;^iooo. '"  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  the  oldest  date  on  these  coins  A.  H.  79  (A.  D.  69S)  tallies 
exactly  with  the  oldest  date  on  the  20,000  Moslem  coins  found  in  Got- 
land and  elsewhere  in  Scandinavia.  Strahlenberg  says  that  thousands 
of  similar  coins  of  the  same  period  have  been  exhumed  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Grand  Permia. 

Great  Novgorod  was  a  pagan  city  and  the  capital  of  the  Goths  in 
Russia;  as  such,  it  existed  down  to  the  eleventh  century, when  it  sud- 
denly disappeared,  and  a  cathedral  stood  in  its  place.  But  little  more 
is  related  of  it;  yet  in  the  scant  chronicles  of  its  ending,  we  see  the 
sack,  the  torch,  the  smoking  ruins,  and  the  despairing  inhabitants, 
as  one  by  one  they  fell  beneath  the  swords  of  the  Latins  or  were  licked 
up  by  the  flames  lighted  with  their  zealous  hands.  Nijni,or  Lower  Nov- 
gorod, was  founded  in  1222,  and  became  one  of  the  christian  hansa 
towns  in  1276. 

If  there  is  little  to  regret  in  the  downfall  of  a  pagan  hansa  and  the 
substitution  in  its  place  of  a  christian  one,  there  is  much  to  deplore 
in  the  sanguinary  methods  by  which  these  ends  were  gained.  After 
the  victories  which  the. gospel  had  already  won  in  Gaul  and  Britain, 
it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  Gothic  or  Gotho-Slavic  inhabitants 
of  Saxony,  Mecklenburg,  Pomerania,  and  Russia,  could  not  have  been 
won  by  milder  means  than  robbery,  rape,  spoliation,  slavery  and  the 
rack. 

"  Eginhard,  "  Life  of  the  emperor  Karl  the  Great,"  London,  1877,  p.  58. 

'^Justinian  IL,  A.D.  705,  had  the  strongest  reasons  for  being  grateful  to  the  Goths 
of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus  and  of  the  Danube,  whose  combined  forces  had  enabled 
him  to  recover  Constantinople.  '^  Rambaud's  History  of  Russia,  Vol.  i,  c.  iii. 


154 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION. 

The  Gothic,  a  mixed  language — The  Codex  Argenteus,  a  forgery — Origin  of  Eng- 
lish— Gothic  government — Laws  —  Gothic  Clans — First  appearance  of  feudalism — 
Castes — Jarls — Hirsars — Thralls — Later  constitution— Knungs—Leudmenn — Haulde- 
menn — Bondr — Leysingi — Herads  and  fylki  clans — Things, or  councils — Retts — Poly- 
gamy— Harems — Pedigrees — Horse-feasts — Horse-fights — Horse  sacrifices — Expo- 
sure of  children — Chain-armour — Religion — Solar-worship — Buddhism — The  Gothic 
mythology — Valhalla — Nistheim,  or  Hell — Yule — Human  sacrifices — The  temple  of 
Upsala— Treatment  of  prisoners— Navigation— Fishing — Iron  clads— Pirating— Tomb- 
rifling — Women  —  Marriage — Holmganga  —  Influence  of  Roman  civilization  and  of 
Christianity — Houses — Clothing — Destruction  of  Roman  works  and  arts — Norse  An- 
tiquities— Objects  found  in  Norse  graves. 

*'  F)  EFORE  the  Tyrkir  and  Asia-men  came  to  the  northern  lands 
\_)  Risar  and  half-Risar  lived  there.  Then  the  people  got  much 
mixed."  '  The  Risars  alluded  to  are  evidently  the  aborigines  whom 
the  Goths,  Turcomans,  or  Asia-men,  *  found  peopling  the  northern 
shores  of  Europe,  and  mingling  with  them,  formed  the  hybrid  races, 
one  of  whom  is  called  by  Tacitus  the  Ingsevones.  This  mingling  of 
blood  must  have  occasioned  a  blending  of  languages.  Similar  blend- 
ings  doubtless  occurred  in  Moesia.  The  loss  of  Ovid's  Gothic  poem 
has  assumed  almost  political  proportions;  it  would  double-lock  the 
door  against  the  theory  of  Indo-Germanic  migrations  and  the  preten- 
tions of  racial  or  national  relationship  which  have  been  hung  upon 
that  theory.^  Beyond  the  fact  that  the  Gothic  language,  as  far  back 
as  we  can  trace  it,  is  much  mixed  both  with  Chinese,  Indian,  Greek, 
Latin  and  what  may  be  termed  Ingaeish,  or  English,  words,  we  know 
little  about  it. 

'  Hervera  Saga,  c.  i. 

*  "  Formerly  called  Getas,  now  Goths."  Photius,  ninth  century.  See  also  Strabo, 
VII,  iii;  Philostorgius,  ii,  5,  etc. 

^  It  is  not  doubted  that  Europe  was  peopled  from  Asia,  nor  that  southern  Europe 
was  peopled  from  India,  but  this  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  the  Indo-Germanic 
theory. 


GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,     GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  155 

Since  the  "  discovery  "  of  the  Codex  Argenteusithasbeen  held  that 
the  Goths  of  Moesia  had  a  christian  bishop  named  Ulfilas,  who  be- 
tween the  years  A.  D.  360  and  379  translated  the  bible  into  the  Gothic 
language.  Were  this  opinion  well  founded  the  work  might  afford  us, 
if  not  a  knowledge  of  the  Gothic  language  generally  as  spoken  at  that 
period,  at  all  events  a  view  of  the  Gothic  of  Moesia.  Unfortunately 
there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  Codex  Argenteus  is  es- 
sentially a  monkish  forgery  and  that  it  is  not  earlier  than  the  ninth 
century." 

As  with  the  Gothic  language,  so  with  Gothic  government, we  know 
little  or  nothing  of  it  previous  to  its  contact  with  the  institutions  of 
Rome.  The  allusions  made  by  Tacitus  to  the  social  system  of  the 
Gothic  tribes  are  far  too  fanciful  and  unsatisfactory  to  build  upon; 
the  works  of  Procopius  and  Jornandes  are  too  late;  and  there  is  noth- 
ing between  them.  The  pagan  sagas,  as  will  presently  be  shown,  have 
all  been  altered,  and  little  is  left  in  them  concerning  the  earlier  cent- 
uries of  our  aera.  The  christian  sagas  are  ages  too  late.  What  we  are 
justified  in  assuming  is  that  the  Gothic  tribes  entered  northern  Eu- 
rope, not  later  than  the  fifth  century  before  our  aera  and  at  first  lived 
in  a  state  of  almost  entire  freedom.  They  had  no  hierarchy,  no  kings 
(as  we  now  understand  the  term),  no  jarls,  and  no  private  property 
in  lands.  They  were  migratory,  pastoral  and  maritime  tribes,  who 
lived  in  tents  or  boats  and  wandered  from  place  to  place,  chiefly  along^ 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic  or  upon  its  rivers,  hunting,  fishing  and  plun- 
dering as  they  went  along,  returning  at  intervals  to  their  head-quarters- 
in  the  land  of  lestia,  there  to  share  their  plunder  with  the  gods  and 
procure  sacerdotal  indulgence  for  further  raids.  Before  the  epoch  of 
Tacitus,  probably  before  that  of  Pytheas,  they  had  conquered  and 
amalgamated  with  all  the  coast  tribes  and  had  entered  upon  the  agri- 
cultural phase.  The  Goths  had  two  sorts  of  clans,  the  heradand  the 
fylki.  It  is  not  clear  that  they  existed  simultaneously,  or  if  so  whether 
the  latter  differed  from  the  former  in  any  other  respect  than  magni- 
tude. The  members  of  both  herad  and  fylki  held  land  in  common. 
When  a  man  belonged  to  one  herad  he  could  not  live  with,  nor  foist 
himself,  upon  another.^  The  affairs  of  each  clan  were  managed  by  a 
chief  and  a  council,  the  latter  called  a  Hus-Thing.  In  after  times 
(mentioned  below)  when  the  clans  were  united  under  a  more  extended 
realm,  there  was  a  National  Thing  and  there  is  one  still  in  Norway, 

*  See  Appendix  B. 

^  Fostbrcedra  Saga  (A.D.  1015-36).  Something  of  the  same  sort  still  lingers  in  the 
Russian  mir,  or  commune. 


356  ANCIENT    liRlTAIN. 

tliough  the  present  one  is  no  longer  a  council,  but  a  legislature.  The 
term  Hus-Thing  lives  in  the  English  word  husting,  which  has  an  anal- 
ogous meaning.  The  Norse  legislature  was  probably  borrowed  from 
a  Greek  or  Roman  original,  modified  to  suit  the  altered  circumstances 
of  the  borrowers." 

After  contact  with  the  Romans  the  social  system  of  the  Goths  un- 
derwent such  rapid  changes  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  describe  it 
accurately  as  of  any  given  period  of  time.  Their  petty  chieftains, 
each  with  the  vision  in  his  mind's  eye  of  the  awful  and  mysterious 
Cjesar  of  Rome,  now  strove  as  much  to  rob  his  Gothic  compeer  of 
political  power,  as  the  enemy,  of  plunder;  and  the  result  of  this  ten- 
dency was  to  create  congeries  of  tribes,  lessen  the  number  and  in- 
crease the  power  of  the  chieftains,  give  rise  to  the  rank  of  jarl  or  su- 
perior chieftain,  and  lead  to  the  establishment  of  private  property  in 
lands,  and  the  more  systematic  pursuit  of  husbandry.  In  still  further 
imitation  of  the  Roman  system,  the  Goths  of  this  period  appear  to 
have  erected  more  permanent  places  of  worship  and  conferred  addi- 
tional powers  and  privileges  upen  their  priests,  but  not  to  the  extent 
of  forming  the  combined  civil,  military  and  sacerdotal  office  of  hirsar, 
"which  seems  to  have  been  a  product  of  Roman  Christianity.  It  should, 
however,  be  stated  that  after  a  short  interval  of  unsatisfactory  ex- 
periment the  places  of  these  hirsars  were  filled  by  a  class  of  hirsars 
Avithout  sacerdotal  powers. 

Before  this  period,  that  is  to  say,  toward  the  end  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
the  Gothic  social  systems,  following  the  Roman,  began  to  assume 
feudal  forms.  This  was  the  result,  not  of  mere  imitation,  but  neces- 
sity. The  Roman  empire  was  itself  a  hierarchy,  its  entire  system  of 
government  was  vicarious  and  feudal  and  as  the  Gothic  tribes  of  Sax- 
ony, Denmark,  Britain,  Burgundy  and  Moesia,  in  short,  nearly  all  the 
■Goths,  except  those  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  were  now  vassals  of  the 
Empire,  it  followed  of  necessity  that  their  systems  of  government 
should  assume  feudal  forms.  The  earlier  sagas  prove  that  at  the  pe- 
riod last  alluded  to,  the  Gothic  communities  were  governed  by  knungs 
or  kings,  below  whom  were  clan-chieftains,  jarls,  or  earls,  below  whom 
again  were  karls  or  bondr,  who  were  freemen,  with  lands,  upon  which 
there  was  a  charge.  Below  these  again  were  the  freemen  without 
lands,  among  whom  were  warriors,  boatmen,  husbandsmen,  andshep- 

^  The  Alemanni  and  other  tribes  of  Germany  had  each  a  council  called  witenage- 
mote.  The  North  American  Indians  also  had  their  tribal  councils.  One  is  as  unlikely 
as  the  other  to  have  given  rise  to  a  legislature;  yet  this  absurd  theory  appears  in  all  the 
text-books. 


GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  157 

herds.  Last  of  all  were  the  thralls,  or  slaves,  usually  captives  in  war. 
These  wore  their  hair  cropped. 

At  a  later  period  the  arrangement  of  castes  appears  to  have  been 
as  follows:  First,  the  knungs  or  kungs;  next  the  jarls,  originally  ap- 
pointed by  the  kungs,  though  afterwards  the  rank  became  hereditary. 
Following  these  were  the  hirsars  before  described;  then  the  leudes, 
leudmenn,  or  leudirmen,  who  appear  to  have  been  appointed;  the 
haulds,  or  hauldermen,  a  higher  caste  of  bondr,  whose  rank  (first  or 
last)  was  hereditary;  next  the  bondr,  who  were  the  most  numerous 
caste;  the  leysingi,  a  class  of  freemen;  and  finally  the  thralls.  Anal- 
ogues of  many  of  these  castes  continued  in  England  or  Scotland  during 
the  medieval  ages  and  some  of  them  survived  so  late  as  the  eighteenth 
century.   The  title  of  alderman  still  lingers. 

Although  the  earlier  Gothic,  Saxon,  and  Frankish  customs  and  laws 
are  plainly  of  eastern  origin,  modified  by  contact  with  the  Roman  law, 
yet  it  is  difficult  to  separate  them  into  their  original  elements.  A 
Statute  of  Frauds  existed  at  the  period  of  the  Gulathing  law,  c.  58, 
which  provides  that  "A  fraudulent  bargain  shall  be  reckoned  as  no 
bargain."  This  is  clearly  Roman.  The  earlier  Gulathing  law,  c.  131, 
provides  for  a  "  man-reckoning- thing, "  in  other  words,  a  domesday 
council,  or  an  assemblage  to  make  a  cadastre.  This  is  also  a  Roman 
institution.' 

In  the  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables  of  the  early  Romans,  many  offences 
were  expiable  by  fines:  a  clearly  Oriental  custom.  Under  the  Gothic 
laws  all  offences,  from  the  slightest  to  the  gravest,  even  murders,  were 
expiable  by  fines  or  retts. "  Polygamy  prevailed  among  the  Goths  long 
after  Christianity  was  introduced.  The  women's  apartments  or  harems 
were  called  dyngja,  or  skemma,  and  were  guarded  by  eunichs.  ®  Fos- 
ter-brotherhood and  the  occasional  adoption  of  war  captives  into  the 
family,  were  among  the  customs  of  this  period.  The  Goths  were  not 
only  vain  of  their  pedigrees,  but  also  of  those  of  their  horses.'"  This 
is  also  an  Oriental  custom.  They  were  fond  of  horse-flesh  as  food,  a 
custom  that  they  only  relinguished  when  they  accepted  Christianity. 

'  The  Roman  name  for  a  "man-reckoning  Thing"  was  polypticum.  Cod.  Theod., 
Lib.,  XL,  tit.  26,  leg.  2,  et.,  tit.  28,  leg.  13.  Polyptica  or  cadastres  were  taken  by  the 
Romans  down  to  the  fifth  century.  In  the  eighth  century  they  were  employed  by  the 
barbarians,  but  only  for  a  short  time.    See  Guerard's  Polyptique  d'Irminon. 

®  The  ancient  Hindus  levied  fines  in  "  rettis"  or  christnalas.each  of  about  2^  grains 
of  gold.  This  may  be  the  origin  of  the  word  "retts."  See  Index  to  "  Middle  Ages 
Revisited"  for  "  christnala." 

*  Ragnar  Lodbrok's  Saga.  The  sacred  couch  of  Buddha  was  called  "  diing;  "  evi- 
dently the  same  word.  '"  Ynlinga  Saga,  35;  Gretti's  Saga,  29. 


15S  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

Herodotus,  (Clio,  216,)  says  that  the  Massagetce  sacrificed  horses  to 
the  sun-god.  Pliny  says  the  Massagetse,  Histi,  Arimaspes  and  others 
were  all  Scythians  and  of  one  race."  A  horse  feast  is  mentioned  in 
Gothic  Frisia  relating  to  the  year  722."  The  Goths  also  took  great 
delight  in  hesta-things  or  gatherings  of  horses,  for  racing  and  horse- 
fights,  and  sometimes  burned  their  horses,  either  for  sacrifice,  or 
as  a  display  of  opulence.  This  was  done  by  the  Norman  nobles  so 
late  as  the  reign  of  Henry  Plantagenet.  A  modern  writer  says  that 
the  Pueblo  Indians  (like  the  Goths)  call  the  sun-god  Thor-id-deh  and 
celebrate  the  vernal  equinox  with  races. '^  The  Massagetae  exposed 
their  old  people  to  death.  In  like  manner  the  Goths  exposed  their 
children  to  death,  chiefly  the  females.  "As  was  the  custom,  they 
took  the  child  out  of  the  house,  put  a  large  stone  slab  over  it,  left  a 
piece  of  pork  in  its  mouth  and  went  away."  '^  A  child  born  with  a 
caull  "shall  be  laid  at  the  church-door  and  the  nearest  kinsman  shall 
watch  it  till  breath  is  out  of  it. "  '^  "  If  it  is  a  girl  thou  shall  have  it 
exposed,  but  if  it  is  a  boy  raise  it."  '"  "  In  regard  to  child-exposure 
and  the  eating  of  horse-flesh  the  old  laws  to  stand."  "  "King  Olaf 
thought  that  Christianity  was  badly  kept  in  Iceland  when  they  told 
him  it  was  allowed  by  the  laws  to  eat  horse-flesh  and  expose  children, 
as  the  heathen  used  to  do."  " 

The  religion  of  the  most  ancient  Goths  was  evidently  a  distorted 
form  of  solar  worship,  modified  by  Buddhism  (without  an  hierarchy), 
and  after  its  myths,  greatly  reduced  in  number,  naa  been  made  sen- 
sible to  the  coarse  conception  of  a  pastoral  people,  by  reducing  them 
to  idolatrous  forms.  The  names  of  their  gods  are  a  certain  indication 
of  solar  worship,  but  their  application  to  the  days  of  the  septuary 
week  does  not  prove  that  these  memorials  of  the  sun-worship  came 
through  Buddhism,  because  such  application  was  only  made  after  their 
acceptance  of  Christianity.  For  all  we  know  to  the  contrary,  the  Gothic 
sun-worship  was  older  than  Buddhism.  If  it  was  coarser,  it  was  sim- 
pler, and  amidst  the  many  contradictions  of  their  rude  mythology  one 
can  perceive  the  recognition  of  a  Creative  Power,  superior  even  to 
the  venerated  Woden,  a  power  which  they  called  God  and  symbolized 
by  the  mystic  T  or  tau. 

Prof.  Max  Miiller,  in  one  of  his  earlier  works,  maintained  that :  "  in 

"  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  vi,  xix,  i. 

■^Anderson's  History  Commerce,  i,  53.  American  "smoked  beef"  is  of  Dutch 
(Frisian)  origin.     It  is  made  of  horse  flesh. 

'^  Mr.  Charles  F.  Lummis.  in  the  Cosmopolitan,  xv,  146. 

"  Fainbagi  Ramund  Saga.  '^  Earlier  Frostathing  Law,  I,  i. 

"  Grunnlang  Ormstringa,  3.  "  Islendingabok,  7.  '^  St.  Olaf's  Saga. 


GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  159 

the  Semitic  languages  the  roots  expressive  of  the  predicate  which 
were  to  serve  as  the  proper  names  of  any  subjects,  remained  so  dis- 
tinct within  the  body  of  a  word  that  those  who  used  the  word  were 
unable  to  forget  its  predicate  meaning,  and  retained  in  most  cases  a 
distinct  consciousness  of  its  appellative  power."  '"  From  this  premiss 
it  was  argued  that  the  Jews  never  forgot  the  true  worship  of  God, 
never  confused  the  idea  of  God  with  His  name,  never  worshipped  the 
shadow*  and  forgot  the  substance  of  the  Deity — as  the  "  Aryans  "  did. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Gothic  languages,  the  root  maintains  its 
form  substantially  unchanged,  and  as  the  formative  syllables  are  al- 
ways suffixed  and  never  prefixed  to  it,  there  is  little  chance  of  over- 
looking or  misinterpreting  its  meaning.  But  did  this  circumstance 
keep  the  Gots,  whose  very  name  was  a  continual  reminder  of  the 
Creator,  to  the  worship  of  the  true  Deity?  ^"  Not  at  all.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  seem  to  have  been  as  willing  to  lapse  into  idolatry  as  they 
were  to  surrender  their  racial  name  and  exchange  it  for  Scuite,Pict, 
Angle,  or  some  other  characteristic  name  or  localism.  Nations  do  not 
take  their  religion  from  the  peculiarities  of  their  languages,  but  from 
those  of  their  intellects  and  passions."  Whatever  the  Gothic  concep- 
tion of  God  at  any  period,  it  was  probably  not  a  very  exalted  one. 
Judging  from  the  sagas,  the  deity  of  the  North  was  passionate,  vio- 
lent, jealous,  revengeful, vehement, and  unjustly  partial  to  his  favourite 
children,  the  Goths.  In  place  of  the  calm  ineffable  smile  of  the  In- 
dian Buddha,  the  brow  of  the  Norse  god  was  clothed  in  thunder  and 
from  his  eye  flashed  war  and  destruction.  The  existence  of  his  varied 
attributes  was  made  sensible  to  the  Gothic  worshipper  by  means  of 
stones  and  statues,  to  which  were  given  the  names  of  Sunna,  Mona, 
Tyr,  Woden,  Thor,  Frica,  Saetere  and  others." 

The  Gothic  religion  inculcated  martial  courage,  the  duty  of  show- 
ing no  mercy  to  the  enemy,  but  of  despoiling  them  and  (at  all  events 
at  the  period  when  the  sagas  took  their  present  form)  of  supporting 
the  hirsars  by  means  of  sacrifices  and  voluntary  offerings  to  the  gods. 
The  reward  of  the  brave  and  faithful  was  Valhalla;  the  punishment 

"  "Chips  from  a  German  workshop,"  i,  356. 

'^^  The  Codex  Argenteus,  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  is  a  product  of  the  ninth 
century,  has  "  Goths  in  sunus,"  for  "  filius  Dei  sum."     Matthew,  xxvii,  43. 

^'  "What  man  esteems,  that  to  him  is  God,"  says  Mr.  Baring-Gould,  Hist,  of  Re- 
ligious Beliefs,  (i,  405.)  Rather  a  loose  sort  of  theology,  but  it  seems  to  have  fitted 
the  Goths  (as  well  some  other  peoples)  remarkably  well. 

^^  Frica  was  adopted  by  phallic  worshippers  as  the  deity  of  pro-creation.  She  was 
the  Venus  of  the  North.  Kemble,  i,  362.  Another  name  for  this  goddess  was  Hertha, 
■or  Earth. 


l6o  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

of  the  cowardly  and  disobedient  was  Nistheim.  In  Valhalla  the  he- 
roes spent  the  day  in  martial  sports,  feasting  upon  pork,  quaffing  beer, 
and  dallying  with  thinly  clad  virgins,  called  valkyries.  Sometimes  the 
latter  visited  the  earth  and  dwelt  with  its  heroes  during  life.  Nistheim 
was  the  cold  and  joyless  underworld  where  reigned  eternal  gloom ;  the 
presidingdeity  was  Hell-a,  whose  abode  was  anguish,  her  table  Famine, 
her  waiters  Expectation,  and  her  bed  Disease."  The  inferno  of  the 
Romans  and  of  Christianity  is  evidently  a  product  of  the  South,  where 
coolness  is  the  greatest  of  luxuries.  It  was  therefore  made  as  hot  as 
possible.  On  the  contrary,  the  Norse  hell  was  freezing  cold,  fire  be- 
ing too  cheerful  an  element  in  northern  countries  to  form  an  object 
of  terror." 

Among  those  religious  customs  of  the  Goths  which  Christianity  suc- 
cessfully opposed  and  eradicated,  were  human  sacrifices  to  the  gods. 
"On  Thorsness  may  still  be  seen  the  doomring  (of  stones)  within 
which  were  broken  those  who  were  used  for  sacrifice  and  the  blood- 
stains can  still  be  seen  on  the  stone."  '"  "  On  Thorsness  there  still 
stands  Thor's  stone,  on  which  they  broke  the  men  whom  they  sacri- 
ficed."*^ "  Thorgrin  Godi  raised  a  large  temple  to  Thor.  On  the 
altar  stood  a  large  bowl  for  the  blood  of  the  men  given  to  Thor."  " 
Among  the  human  sacrifices  were  those  called  blodorn  or  blood-eagle.  "* 
The  skin  or  flesh  of  the  victim  was  cut  down  the  whole  back  to  the 
ribs  from  both  sides  of  the  spine,  in  the  shape  of  an  eagle  and  the 
lungs  were  drawn  through  the  wound.  "The  jarl  had  a  blodorn  cut 
on  Halfdan's  back  with  a  sword,  and  sacrificed  him  to  Woden  for  vic- 
tory."  *"  Human  sacrifices  were  made  to  propitiate  the  gods  when 
praying  for  favourable  seasons  and  other  advantages.  "King  Heidrek 
reddened  the  temple-altars  with  the  blood  of  king  Harald  and  Half- 
dan  *  *  *  in  order  to  improve  the  season. "  ^''  "  In  a  time  of  famine 
the  Swedes  surrounded  king  Olaf's  house  and  burned  him  as  a  sacri- 
fice for  good  years. "  ''  During  the  reign  of  Domaldi,  Sweden  suffered 
from  a  great  famine.  After  sacrificing  cattle  they  sacrificed  men  and 
finding  this  ineffectual  they  sacrificed  the  king  himself  and  reddened 
the  altars  with  his  blood.  ^*  "  At  the  burial  of  Sigard  and  Byrnhild 
the  mound  was  reddened  with  blood  and  human  beings  were  burned 
with  them  on  the  pyre. "  ***   "  Harald  Fairhair  burnt  one  of  his  own 

^^  Prose  Edda,  34.  ^^  Kemble,  i,  344.  ^^  Eyrbyg-ga,  c.  10,  (A.D.  890-1031). 

^*  Landnama,  11,  c.  12.  ^''  Kjalnesinga,  c.  2. 

**  The  eagle  was  a  Brahmo-Buddhic  emblem.  Vishnu  is  often  portrayed  mounted  oa 
the  eagle  Garuda.  '■''' Flateyjarbok,  i,  224,  A.D.  1015-1030. 

^•^  Hervara,  11-12.  ^' Ynglinga,  47.  ^- Ynglinga,  18. 


GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  l6l 

sons."  "  ''  Harald  *  *  *  burnt  his  brother  Rogueveld  together  with 
eighty  leudmen  in  his  house:  this  deed  was  much  praised." '*  "When 
Odd  slew  Hjalma,  the  beloved  of  Ingibjorg,  he  carried  to  her  the  ring 
which  Hjalma  had  bequeathed  to  her.  Upon  learning  of  his  death 
and  at  sight  of  the  relic,  Ingibjorg  fell  down  dead.  This  made  Odd 
laugh  and  he  carried  the  woman's  corpse  and  laid  it  in  the  arms  of 
Hjalma.  Then  he  showed  the  amusing  sight  to  the  king,  who  enjoyed 
it  so  much  that  he  seated  Odd  in  the  high  seat  beside  him  and  they 
did  feast  and  make  merry  together. "  To  propitiate  the  goddess,  Hakon 
Jarl  sacrificed  his  son  Erling  seven  years  old, a  very  promising  youth. 
He  gave  the  boy  to  his  thrall  Scopti  Kark  and  Scopti  put  him  to  death, 
"in  Hakon's  usual  way,  as  taught  by  him."  "  When  king  An  was 
sixty  he  sacrificed  his  son  to  Woden,  hoping  to  live  another  sixty 
years.  At  the  expiration  of  this  period  he  sacrificed  a  son  every  ten 
years,  until  he  had  sacrificed  nine  sons.  Then  the  people  stopped  him 
and  he  died.''  Much  of  this  is  probably  fabulous  and  rather  proves 
what  the  Goths  believed  than  what  they  practiced. 

About  thirty-five  miles  north  of  Stockholm  is  Upsala,  formerly  the 
capital  of  the  Goths,  now  an  obscure  cathedral  town.  The  pagan  tem- 
ple,wherein,  down  to  1075,  Thor, Woden  and  Frica  were  worshipped, 
was  destroyed  in  that  year  by  Ingo  and  about  1155  a  christian  cathe- 
dral was  erected  upon  its  ruins.  In  Upsala  was  collected  the  principal 
plunder  which  the  Goths  had  obtained  from  various  parts  of  the  Ro- 
man empire.  After  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  some  of  it  found 
its  way  back  to  Roman  owners.  To  celebrate  a  victory  the  altars  of 
the  old  temple  used  to  be  reddened  with  the  blood  of  captives.  A 
portion  of  the  prisoners,  no  matter  what  their  rank,  were  sacrificed 
to  Woden.  They  were  slaughtered  like  sheep,  their  backs  broken  on 
sharp  stones,  their  blood  poured  into  bowls  and  their  bodies  after- 
ward flung  out  as  carrion.  The  jarl  Hakon  and  his  son  took  their 
food  and  sat  down  to  eat.  They  wanted  to  have  the  prisoners  be- 
headed that  day,  not  at  once,  but  leisurely.  They  all  died  heroically. 
The  ninth  one  asked  to  be  smote  in  the  face.  "  This  was  done;  he  sat 
with  his  face  to  Thorkel  (the  headsman)  who  walked  up  to  him  and 
smote  him  on  his  face;  he  did  not  wince,  except  that  his  eyelids  sank 
down,  when  death  came  over  him." 

Sometimes  all  the  prisoners  were  slain.  "  Olaf  fell  and  Athelstan 
slew  all  his  prisoners.  Egil  fought  for  Athelstan  and  was  moody  after 
the  victory,  until  Athelstan  paid  him  for  his  services."  "     This  was 

^^  Snorri  Harald  Fairhair's  Saga,  c.  36.  ^*  Ibid,  c.  36, 

3^  Formanna  Saga,  xi,  134.  ^6  Ynglinga,  29.  ^''  Egil's  Saga,  11,  475-8. 


l62  ANXIENT    liRlTAIN, 

A.  I).  938,  at  the  battle  of  Brunanburg,  in  Britain,  in  which  country, 
as  well  as  in  Scandinavia,  doom-rings  and  slabs  are  still  to  be  seen 
which  were  used  for  human  sacrifices  by  the  Norsemen.'"  In  another 
place  we  have  shown  the  Norsemen's  predilection  for  ships,  his  fear- 
lessness upon  the  sea,  his  skill  in  navigation.  He  was  not  only  a  good 
sailor,  but  an  indefatigable  fisherman.  The  herring, salmon,  cod, ling, 
seal,  and  whale  fisheries  of  the  Norsemen  are  described  in  the  sagas 
and  they  were  doubtless  pursued  with  the  same  ardour  and  success 
that  still  distinguishes  their  successors.^"  So  varied  were  the  improve- 
ments they  effected  in  ships  that  in  the  twelfth  century  they  invented 
the  iron-clad.  ''He  has  fifteen  ships  and  a  dragon  covered  with  iron 
above  the  water.  It  sails  through  every  ship."  '"  "The  Eclidi  was 
strong,  like  a  sea-going  ship,  and  its  sides  were  sheathed  with  iron."  ^' 
They  also  invented  the  marine  barrier.  "  Iron  chains  were  stretched 
across  the  sound  to  stop  the  enemy's  ships."  " 

When  the  spring  ploughing  was  done  the  Norse  bondr  were  organized 
by  their  leaders  into  pirating  or  privateering  expeditions.  If  this  pur- 
suit failed  to  prove  sufficiently  lucrative,  the  bondr  were  led  back  to 
agriculture  until  they  gathered  in  the  harvest.  Then  they  were  em- 
barked once  more  and  were  expected  to  live  upon  plunder  until  the 
winter's  ice  drove  them  into  port.  The  leaders  did  not  regard  piracy 
as  a  crime,  it  was  a  trade ;  a  trade,  to  which  they  were  born,  and  which 
they  esteemed  both  honourable  and  laudable.  "The  sons  of  Ragnar 
Lodbrok  (Lodbrok  means  hairy-breeches)  made  warlike  expeditions 
into  many  lands:  England,  Walland,  (Gaul,)  Frakkland  and  Lum- 
bardi."  "  "  The  sons  of  Ragnar,  after  having  ravaged  in  England, 
Walland,  Saxland,  and  all  the  way  along  the  coast  to  Lumbardi,  Swe- 
den, Denmark  and  Vindland,  returned  home.""  "The  jomsvikings 
went  northward  along  the  coasts  plundering  and  ravaging  wherever 
they  landed."  "^ 

They  were  not  satisfied  with  despoiling  the  living,  they  rifled  the 
dead;  and  graves  were  opened  to  rob  the  tenants  of  their  jewels  and 
arms.  This  is  why  in  most  of  the  Gothic  tumuli  the  swords,  spears 
and  other  weapons  are  found  broken  and  twisted;  it  was  to  render 
them  useless  to  the  tomb-robber  and  to  dissuade  him  from  seeking  fur- 
ther. King  Olaf,  a  viking, who  conducted  a  piratical  expedition  along 
the  coasts  of  France,  "got  very  much  property  "  by  rifling  the  sac- 
rificial mounds  of  the  Gauls." 

^^Proc,  Scot.  Antiq.  Soc.  ^^  Egil's  Saga,  10-29.  *"  Svarfaela,  c.  4. 

*'  Fridthjof's  Saga,  c.  i.  *'^  Harald  Hadradi's  Saga,  c.  15. 

*^  These  mean  the  coasts  of  England,  France,  Provence  and  Italy.  Ragnar's  Son's 
Saga,  c.  3.     '*■' Flateyjarbok.     •**  Jomsviking  Saga,  41-4.     ■*•*  Formanna  Saga,  x,  i(,4. 


GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,   GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  163 

Their  women  were  commonly  the  spoil  of  war.  A  battle  usually 
ended  with  the  enslavement  of  the  male  prisoners,  the  slaughter  of  the 
old  women  and  infants  and  the  division  of  the  younger  females  among 
the  conquerors.  Several  instances  of  this  sort  are  mentioned  in  the 
sagas;  for  example,  where  Knut  slew  Thorkell,  for  cheating  him  of 
his  choice  of  the  virgins.  After  the  division,  the  women  were  marched 
to  the  hero's  skemma,  which  men  were  never  allowed  to  enter.  Women 
had  no  voice  in  their  own  marriages;  this  was  wholly  in  the  hands  of 
their  fathers  or  guardians.  The  only  regard  that  men  paid  to  women 
was  to  exact  a  price  for  them  from  other  men.  "  This  is  about  the 
rights  of  women.  Every  man  has  full  rett  (indemnity)  on  behalf  of 
his  wife.  Three  marks  are  due  to  a  hauld  if  his  wife  is  struck. "  "  And 
even  rett  was  not  always  obtainable.  A  man  was  often  forced  to  give 
up  his  wife  for  nothing,  when  another  man  challenged  him  to  "holm- 
ganga  "  and  vanquished  him.  This  made  the  woman  the  prize  of  the 
victor.  Many  a  man  not  deeming  himself  able  to  cope  with  the  chal- 
lenger surrendered  his  wife  and  daughter  or  sister  to  the  latter  with- 
out a  struggle.  If  a  woman  was  unfaithful,  the  man  could  take  all  her 
property.  This  provision  was  open  to  great  abuse.  When  a  man  died 
the  woman  was  sometimes  burnt  alive  on  his  grave."® 

Many  of  the  darker  features  of  the  Gothic  polity  and  religion  were 
effaced  in  the  course  of  time  either  by  the  superior  refinement  which 
naturally  resulted  from  contact  with  Roman  communities,  or  else  at 
a  later  period  through  the  gentle  influences  of  Christianity ;  whilst  many 
other  features  are  still  discernible  in  the  customs  of  the  nations  who 
have  descended  from  them.  In  some  parts  of  Sweden  and  Norway, 
when  unusual  sounds  are  heard  at  night,  the  peasants  still  whisper  to 
one  another,  "  'Tis  Woden  walking  yonder,"  and  when  the  sighingof 
the  forest  is  heard,  they  call  it,  the  "Hunt  of  Woden."  "  When  it 
thunders  or  lightens  they  close  their  houses  and  assemble  for  prayers. 
The  Goths  of  Britain  lived  in  log-cabins  whose  floors  were  the  earth, 
whose  chimneys  the  roof,  and  whose  window  (when  they  had  one)  was 
made  of  the  after-birth  membranes  of  cows.  The  men  dressed  in  pells, 
or  skins,  which  rarely  left  their  backs,  for  they  slept,  as  well  as  walked, 
in  them.^"  Many  of  them  wore  skins  which  had  been  soaked  in  boil- 
ing pitch  and  hardened.  Their  favourite  food  was  the  flesh  of  the 
horse,  and  they  made  their  feasts  merry  by  throwing  the  bones  at  one 
another's  heads. 

*'  Frostathing  Saga,  x,  37.  *^  Gylfaginning,  c.  5. 

*'  Tacitus  mentions  a  forest  in  the  Low  Countries  called  Badhu-henna,  i.  e.,  Budd- 
ha's Hunt,  or  Buddha's  Forest.  Annals,  iv,  73.  ^"  Ragnar  Lodbrok's  Saga. 


164  ANCIENT    IJKITAIN. 

Such  were  the  men  who  overthrew — not  the  Roman  hierarchy,  for 
that  overthrew  itself — but  Roman  civiHzation  in  Britain.  In  the  course 
of  time  many  of  the  Roman  buildings  which  the  elements  had  spared, 
were  levelled  to  the  ground,  and  used  as  materials  for  ruder  and 
smaller  structures.  For  the  Norseman's  mode  of  life  was  not  adapted 
to  the  spacious  and  artistic  mansions  of  the  Romans.  These  were  fit- 
ted for  a  higher  social  state  and  a  populous  community,  in  which  the 
sub-division  of  labour  was  greatly  developed,  and  the  presence  of 
tradesmen,  artisans,  and  domestic  servants,  could  be  readily  com- 
manded; circumstances  which  no  longer  existed  when  the  post-Ro- 
man dominion  of  the  Norseman  began.  The  successful  insurgents 
were  none  too  friendly  to  one  another;  their  families  were  almost  iso- 
lated; and  they  lived  for  the  most  part  in  rude  huts  where  everything 
could  be  made  or  repaired  by  the  master  and  was  within  reach  of  his 
hands. 

In  like  manner  were  the  Roman  arts  overthrown.  For  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  these  arts,  security  of  life  and  property,  coopera- 
tion, division  of  labour,  a  highly  artificial  monetary  system,  and  many 
other  circumstances,  laws,  and  legal  institutions,  were  necessary.  All 
these  disappeared  with  the  triumph  of  the  insurgents;  the  arts  were 
abandoned,  and  they  sank  into  oblivion.  Even  agriculture  dwindled 
to  the  sowing  of  a  scant  harvest  of  grain,  and  the  keeping  of  a  few 
cattle,  sheep,  and  swine.  The  dainty  flowers  which  the  Romans  had 
brought  from  distant  Persia  and  Arabia,  faded  to  bloom  no  more,  the 
sweet-fruited  orchards  with  which  they  had  planted  the  land,  rotted 
away,  and  the  very  name  of  the  vetches  and  greens  which  they  had 
culled  with  so  much  care  from  the  gardens  of  Italy  and  Gaul,  were 
lost  to  the  knowledge  of  men. 

Yet  something  remained  which  was  worth  preserving,  something 
which  issued  neither  from  the  Roman  government  nor  the  Roman 
arts  of  the  imperial  period.  This  was  the  love  of  liberty,  which  the 
Norsemen,  though  turbulent  their  lives  and  rude  their  manners, 
never  forgot.  They  had  brought  it  from  the  desert  and  the  sea, 
they  had  seen  it  flourish  in  the  Roman  commonwealth  and  were  thus 
assured  that  it  fitted  as  well  a  civilized  community  as  their  own 
rough  tribes.  They  had  seen  it  stricken  down  by  the  Hierarchy  and 
they  had  raised  it  up  and  nourished  it  and  kept  it  for  posterity. 
Without  their  fostering  care  it  may  have  been  buried  as  deeply  in 
Europe  as  it  has  been  in  India. 

Many  of  the  objects  which  the  Norsemen  plundered  from  the  Ro- 
mans in  Britain  and  elsewhere,  have  recently  been  found  in  Scandi- 


GOTHIC    LANGUAGE,    GOVERNMENT,    RELIGION.  165 

navia.  The  Nj-dam-bogfind,  consisting  of  a  boat,  skeletons,  weapons, 
coins,  etc.,  is  ascribed  to  the  years  250  to  300  of  our  oera,  about  the 
period  of  the  Sack  of  London.  This  date  is  fixed  by  the  Roman  coins 
included  in  the  find.  Among  the  weapons  were  no  less  than  106  steel 
swords,  several  of  them  with  Latin  inscriptions.  In  the  Gunnarsbaug 
ship,  discovered  1887,  in  the  province  of  Bergen,  were  found  Roman 
chessmen,  tinder-boxes,  hand-mills,  and  other  remains,  evidently  the 
result  of  plunder.  Some  beautiful  objects  of  art,  such  as  vases  and 
bowls  which  indicate  a  Greek  origin,  and  which  the  Romans  may  have 
obtained  in  Greece  and  afterwards  yielded  up  to  the  victorious  Norse- 
men, were  found  in  the  graves  of  the  latter.  Fifteen  centuries  had 
hidden  both  the  booty  and  the  thieves,  only  to  reveal  them  at  last. 
Plunder,  destruction,  and  social  retrogression,  these  were  the  attrib- 
utes of  the  Gothic  occupation  of  Britain.  The  earlier  Norse  inter- 
ments, those  of  an  jera  previous  to  the  Roman  conquest  of  Britain, 
contain  no  such  remains.  The  spoils  of  this  remote  period  are  of 
little  antiquarian  value;  they  are  the  spoils  which  one  race  of  savages 
took  from  another.  To  inscribe  the  adventures  of  these  barbarians 
upon  the  pages  of  history,  is  to  clothe  them  with  an  undeserved  sig- 
nificance. Their  wars  and  treaties  were  alike  destitute  of  interest  to 
mankind.  Their  rule  was  one  of  tumult  and  confusion,  which  only 
assumed  social  and  political  aims  when  they  were  brought  within  the 
pale  of  Roman  government. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

GOTHIC    REMAINS    FOUND    IN    ENGLAND. 

Proofs  that  the  earlier  sagas  are  pagan  writings  altered  by  the  medieval  monks — 
Among  these  is  their  frequent  mention  of  bang  money,  an  institution  which  did  not 
survive  the  contact  of  Norsemen  and  Romans — Progressive  order  of  Norse  moneys — 
Fish,  vadmal  and  bang  moneys — The  bang  traced  from  Tartary  to  Gotland,  Saxony 
and  Britain — Gold  bangs  acquired  a  sacerdotal  character — This  was  probably  imme- 
diately after  Norse  and  Roman  contact — Subsequent  relinquishment  of  bang  money 
and  the  adoption  of  coins — Proof  that  Julius  Caesar  encountered  Norse  tribes  in  Brit- 
ain, derived  from  his  mention  of  baugs — This  view  corroborated  by  archaeology  and 
philology — Subsequent  Norse  coinage  system  of  stycas,  scats,  and  oras — Important 
historical  conclusions  derived  from  its  study. 

IT  needs  but  a  cursory  examination  of  the  earlier  sagas  to  be  satis- 
fied that  they  have  been  grossly  mutilated.  They  jumble  together 
events  hundreds  of  years  apart;  they  mingle  details  which  belong  to 
communities  as  yet  ignorant  of  Roman  customs,  with  the  affairs  of 
communities  well  acquainted  with  them;  they  resurrect  the  Scythian 
forefathers  of  the  Norsemen  and  set  them  down  in  the  midst  of  med- 
ieval christian  saints;  they  omit  all  mention  of  Rome  or  Roman  af- 
fairs, or  the  Roman  religion,  or  the  causes  of  difference  between  the 
Norsemen  and  the  Empire;  they  eschew  dates,  ignore  the  calendar, 
and  commit  the  pagan  festivals  to  oblivion.  The  silly  explanation 
which  has  been  offered  to  us  of  this  disorder  is  that  the  sagas  were 
popular  songs  '  which  were  repeated  by  word  of  mouth  for  centuries 
before  they  were  committed  to  writing,  and  that  this  custom  produced 
the  confusion,  omissions,  anachronisms,  and  other  defects  which  now 
characterize  them.  There  might  have  been  a  time  when  such  an  ex- 
planation was  sufficient,  but  the  class  of  people  who  offer  them  forget 
that  the  world  grows  and  that  knowledge  is  cumulative.  We  now  know 
that  language,  without  a  written  literature  to  fix  its  terms  and  mean- 
ings, is  too  ephemeral  to  last  for  centuries,  indeed  that  a  few  genera- 

■  Tacitus,  Germania.iii,  mentions  certain  uncouth  war  songs,  but  this  does  not  prove 
that  they  were  afterwards  committed  to  writing  and  elaborated  into  the  historical  and 
poetical  sagas.  He  also  mentions  the  runes,  which  he  supposes  were  Greek  characters. 


GOTHIC    REMAINS    FOUND    IN    ENGLAND.  167 

tions  mark  the  utmost  time  durin<^  which  it  will  remain  unaltered.  It 
was  reliance  upon  thi.s  principle  that  led  to  the  distrust  of  Macpher- 
son's  forged  "  Ossian  "  and  that  compels  us  to  regard  as  mutilations 
the  Eddas  produced  by  Saemund  Sigfusson  and  Snorri  Sturlason.* 

In  the  present  connection  the  liability  of  unwritten  language  to  rapid 
mutation  proves  one  of  two  things;  either  that  the  earlier  sagas  are 
medieval  fabrications  in  Latin,  translated  into  the  medieval  Norse 
and  retranslated  into  the  vernacular,  which  is  precisely  the  case  with 
Macpherson's  spurious  "Ossian;"  or  else  they  are  mutilations  of 
early  Gothic  or  runic  originals.  Their  repleteness  of  historical  mate- 
rials and  local  colouring  belonging  to  the  earlier  centuries  of  our  asra, 
leads  at  once  to  the  conclusion  last  named.  ^  It  is  this  local  colouring 
which  marks  the  distinction  between  a  mutilation  and  a  forgery  out 
of  the  whole  cloth.  Macpherson  had  no  historical  dates  before  him, 
therefore  he  was  forced  to  forge  his  entire  work.  Sigfusson  found 
plenty  of  history  in  the  old  written  sagas,  so  he  merely  mutilated  them, 
and,  with  the  sobriquet  of  "  The  Learned  "  achieved  that  immortality 
which  is  ever  the  reward  of  virtue  and  fidelity.  If  any  further  proof, 
than  that  afforded  by  the  nature  of  language  itself,  were  needed  to 
corroborate  these  views,  it  will  be  found  in  the  allusion  to  runic  writ- 
ings by  Tacitus  and  in  the  frequent  mention  of  anachronical  moneys 
in  the  sagas. 

The  evolution  of  Norse  monetary  systems,  whether  in  lestia,  Sax- 
ony, Scandinavia,  Frakkland,  Britain,  Russia,  or  Iceland,  usually  pro- 
ceeded in  the  following  manner:  First,  fish  and  vadmal  (cloth)  money  ; 
second,  bang  or  ring  money;  third,  imitations  of  pagan  Roman  coined 
money;  fourth,  Norse  pagan  coinage  system  (partly  derived  from  the 
Roman  system)  of  stycas,  scats  and  aurars  or  oras;  fifth,  intrusion  of 
Moslem  coinage  system  of  dinars,  maravedis  and  dirhems;  sixth,  re- 
placement of  the  last  by  christian  Roman  coinage  system  of  p<^  s.  d. 
This  progression  did  not  occur  simultaneously  in  the  various  coun- 
tries named,  because  the  Goths  used  coined  money  in  Britain  before 
they  employed  fish  money  in  Iceland;  it  was  the  usual  order  of  pro- 
gression in  each  country  or  petty  kingdom  by  itself.  From  the  period 
of  their  original  settlement  in  Britain  down  to  that  of  their  contact 
with  the  Brigantes,  the  Norsemen  used  no  coined  money,  indeed  they 
had  little  or  no  commerce  and  lived  chiefly  by  hunting,  fishing  and 
plundering.    After  each  raid  upon  the  enemy  the  plunder  was  "  car- 

*  The  Ezra  of  Iceland,  A.  D.  1056-1133  and  his  foster-grandson,  A.  D.  1178-1241. 
'^  Charlemagne  made  a  collection  of  these  sagas,  but,  of  course,  these  are  now  "lost." 
Note  to  Murphy's  Tac.  Germ.,  in,  probably  from  Eginhard. 


l68  ANCIF.NT    BRITAIN. 

ricd  to  the  pole"  and  there  divided.  It  is  evident,  from  numerous 
analogous  examples  in  the  sagas,  that  in  each  case  of  dispute, 
the  rival  claimants  fought  it  out  at  once  and  the  survivor  took 
the  lot.  This  is  a  custom  not  of  trading  communities,  but  of  preda- 
tory bands. 

The  first  money  of  the  Norsemen  in  Britain  was  probably  fish,  as 
Avas  formerly  the  case  in  Norway  *  and  in  Iceland  down  to  the  close 
of  the  last  century.  Sild,  hring,  or  herring,  is  still  used  to  mean  money 
on  the  Baltic  coasts,  and  the  scad  or  scat,  (corrupted  to  scot,)  a  fish 
of  the  same  genus,  is  still  used  to  mean  money  in  North  Britain.^ 
There  are  suggestions  of  fish-money  in  the  expressions  "Rome-scat," 
"scot-free,"  "  scot-and  lot,"  etc.  Following  fish,  the  money  of  the 
Norsemen  in  Britain  was  vadmal,  a  homespun  cloth,  measured  by  the 
arms-length.  Still  later  they  used  baugs,  or  ring  money.  It  was  not 
until  after  all  this  that  they  began  to  strike  coins. 

Baugs  were  anciently  that  money  of  Scythia,  northern  China  and 
northern  India,  of  which  a  reminiscence  still  survives  in  the  baugle 
or  bangle."  At  a  remote  period  baug  money  was  introduced  from 
Scythia  into  Egypt.  Representations  of  it  appear  upon  the  stone 
monuments  of  Thebes.  Schliemann  found  baugs  in  the  ruins  of 
INIycense.  They  have  since  been  found  in  those  of  Tel-el- Amarna.  As 
for  dates,  Egyptian  chronology  has  been  so  ruined  iu  the  various  at- 
tempts made  to  fit  it  successively  into  the  mythologies  of  Assyria, 
Greece,  and  Rome,  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  it.  The  baugs 
engraved  at  Thebes  are  round  rings,  which  are  represented  as  being 
placed  in  the  scales  to  be  weighed.  No  peculiarity  of  form  and  no 
stamp  marks  distinguish  them  in  the  sculptures,  facts  that  coupled 
with  the  weighing  led  the  author  in  a  previous  work  to  doubt  that 
they  were  money.  Since  that  time  "dozens  of  rings  (stamped)  with 
the  names  of  Khuen-Atenand  his  family  and  moulds  for  casting  rings  " 
have  been  found  in  Tel-el- Amarna.'  It  will  now  hardly  be  questioned 
that  such  rings  were  money.  We  can  therefore  no  longer  doubt  that 
they  formed  the  principal  circulating  medium  of  Egypt  during  the 
time  of  the  Hyksos  or  Scythian  kings.  From  Egypt  baug  money  made 
its  way  down  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  where  the  early  Portugese 
and  Spanish  navigators  found  it,  the  latter  giving  to  the  rings  the 

*  Frostathing  Laws,  xvi,  2. 

'  According  to  Mr.  T.  Baron  Russell's  "Current  Americanisms,"  (London,  1S93,) 
"scads"  is  still  used  as  a  term  for  "current  coin"  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States. 

*  The  pinched  bullet-money  of  Cochin  also  appears  to  be  a  modification  of  the  baug. 
'  Address  of  Dr.  Flinders  Petrie  before  the  Oriental  Congress,  London,  September 

Cth,  1S92.   Khuen  is  evidently  the  Tartar  "  Kung,"  or  king. 


GOTHIC    REMAINS    FOUND    IN    ENGLAND.  169 

name  of  manillas,  or  manacles,  a  name  that  they  still  bear.  They 
were  used  in  Darfoor,  lat.  12  north,  long.  26  east,  so  late  as  1S50;  for 
Mr.  Curzon  saw  several  chests  full  of  gold  baugs  from  that  country, 
at  Assouan  in  1854.  They  are  still  used  on  the  West  Coast,  from 
whence  the  present  author  had  one  of  copper,  shaped  like  the  letter 
C,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  two  ends  of  the  ring  left  apart."  Another 
line  of  baugs  is  traceable  from  Scythia  to  Gotland,  where  they  are  men- 
tioned in  sagas,  which,  although,  in  their  present  form,  they  belong 
to  an  ffira  subsequent  to  the  employment  of  baugs  for  money,  are  evi- 
dently mutilated  versions  of  more  ancient  texts."  Egil  having  been 
paid  two  chests  of  silver  as  indemnity  for  his  brother,  "  recites  a  song 
of  praise  "  in  which  he  alludes  to  the  indemnity  as  "gul-baug,"  or 
o^old  rings,  meaning  money.'" 

The  suspected  mutilations  of  the  sagas  are  corroborated  by  the 
known  mutilations  of  the  laws:  "  If  a  hauld  wound  a  man,  he  is  liable 
to  pay  six  baugar  to  the  king,  each  worth  12  oras.  If  an  arborin-madr 
wounds  a  man,  he  has  to  pay  3  baugar,  and  a  leysingi  (freedman)  2, 
a  leudrman  12,  a  jarl  24,  a  kning  48;  12  oras  being  in  each  baug,  and 
the  fine  shall  be  paid  to  those  to  whom  it  is  due  by  law.  All  this  is 
valued  in  silver."  "  The  text  of  this  law  proves  that  it  assumed  its 
present  form  at  three  different  dates.  The  first  belongs  to  the  bar- 
barous period,  when  the  indemnity  was  fixed  in  Gothic  baugs;  the 
second  to  the  Roman  period,  when  the  baugs  were  valued  in  heretical 
oras,  or  Roman  sicilici;  and  the  third  to  the  period  when  the  oras 
were  valued  in  christian  silver  pennies.  The  original  baug  appears 
to  have  contained  240  grains  of  gold,  or  about  the  same  quantity  as 
there  is  in  three  British  sovereigns  of  the  present  day.  It  was  probably 
the  double  of  the  Hindu  dharana. 

A  C-shaped  figure,  like  that  of  the  African  baug  above  mentioned, 
is  twice  repeated  on  a  stone  slab  from  the  Kivik  grave,  near  Cim- 
brisham,  a  monument  assigned  by  archaeologists  to  a  very  remote  pe- 
riod. Whether  it  represents  the  baug  or  not,  cannot  at  present  be 
determined,  '"  but  there  is  some  reason  to  think  it  does,  from  the  fact 
that  gold  baugs  seem  to  have  been  clothed  with  a  sacerdotal  character. 
For  example,  Egil  fastened  a  gold  baug  on  each  arm  of  the  dead  Thor- 

**  Del  Mar's  History  of  Money,  133.  Baugs  or  ring-money  are  mentioned  by  Pliny. 
Nat.  History,  xxiii,  i. 

^  Baugs  appear  to  have  been  used  also  by  the  tribes  of  the  Baltic  coasts,  after  the 
Goths  conquered  or  assimilated  with  them;  for  the  term  was  employed  by  the  Salic 
Franks,  and  is  still  employed  in  French,  to  mean  rings, 

'"  Egil  Saga.   The  Dutch  still  give  the  name  of  "gulden  "  to  certain  silver  coins. 

"  Frostathing  Laws,  iv,  53;  Du  Chaillu,  i,  549.  '^  Fig.  28,  in  Du  Chaillu,  88. 


170  ANCIENT    liRITAlN. 

off,  before  he  buried  him.  "  And  a  gold  baug  was  paid  for  his  bride.  '^ 
Bagi  was  also  the  Parthian  name  for  divine  or  sacretl.  It  appears  on 
all  the  coins  of  the  Arsacidx.  "■  The  originals  of  the  Frostathing  laws 
may  have  descended  from  the  period  before  the  Goths  revolted  from 
Roman  control. 

Specimens  of  Gothic  baug  money  are  still  extant.  Gold,  silver  and 
iron  baugs  will  be  found  in  the  collections  of  IJergen,  Christiania, 
Newcastle,  York  and  other  centres  of  Norse  antiquities.  There  are 
Gothic  gold  baugs,  about  one  inch  in  diameter  and  copper  and  iron 
baugs  in  the  London  and  Paris  collections.  During  the  last  ceutury 
a  vast  quantity  of  small  iron  ring-money  was  exhumed  in  the  west 
of  Cornwall  and  one  of  these  was  deposited  by  Mr.  Moyle  in  the  Pem- 
broke collection.'"  After  the  aera  of  baugs,  the  Goths  used  coins. 
Says  Du  Chaillu :  "A  barbaric  imitation  in  gold  of  a  Roman  imperial 
coin  was  found  with  a  skeleton  at  Aarlesden  in  Odense,  amt  Fyen," 
a  district  and  island  about  86  miles  from  Copenhagen.  "  A  barbaric 
imitation  of  a  Byzantine  coin  of  the  fifth  century  was  found  in  Mall- 
gard,  Gotland.  '*  A  barbaric  gold  coin  falsely  stamped  with  the  image 
of  Louis  le  Debonnaire  was  found  in  Domberg,  Zealand,  and  is  now 
in  the  Paris  collection. 

When,  several  centuries  before  our  aera,  the  Celts  came  into  con- 
tact with  the  Greeks,  whether  in  Spain,  Gaul  or  Britain,  they  began 
to  strike  Celtish  coins  in  imitation  of  Greek  originals.  In  like  man- 
ner, after  the  Goths  came  into  contact  with  the  Romans,  or  rather 
after  they  had  learnt  to  abhor  their  religion  and  despise  their  arms, 
whether  in  Moesia,  Saxony,  Zealand,  or  Britain,  they  began  to  strike 
Gothic  coins  in  imitation  of  Roman  originals.  Such  imitations  are 
found  in  the  uninscribed  stycas,  scats  and  oras  of  early  Britain ;  a  fact 
which  is  deduced  as  well  from  the  Latin  name  of  the  ora,  as  the  gen- 
eral type  and  composition  of  all  the  pieces. 

"When  Goth  and  Roman  first  met  in  Britain  was  when  the  ring  money 
was_  still  used  by  the  former,  a  period  clearly  established  by  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  the  principal  work  ascribed  to  Julius  Ctesar. 
Speaking  generally  of  the  tribes  whom  he  encountered  in  Britain  (B.  C. 
55)  Caesar  says:  "  Utuntur  aut  asre,  aut  nummo  aureo,  aut  annulis 
ferreis,  ad  certum  pondus  examinatis  pro  nummo."  ..."  They  used 
either  bronze  (money)  or  gold  money  or  iron  rings  of  a  certain  (de- 
termined) weight,  for  money."    The  bronze  metal,  Caesar  adds,  was 

"Du  Chaillu,  11,  476.  '*  Frostathing  Laws,  vi,  4;  Du  Chaillu,  11,  16. 

'*  Geo.  Rawlinson,  "Seventh  Monarchy,"  p.  66. 

"  Walter  Moyle's  Works,  i,  259.        "  Du  Chaillu,  i.  262.         '»  Du  Chaillu,  i,  275. 


GOTHIC    REMAINS    FOUND    IN    ENGLAND.  lyr 

-  imported.  '*  It  is  evident  that  this  ring-money  was  not  used  at  the 
time  by  the  Celtic  or  Gaelic  tribes  of  Britain,  because  these  tribes  used 
coined  money,  which  as  a  measure  of  value,  is  more  precise  and  con- 
venient than  bangs.  The  Celts  also  came  from  Gaul  and  Belgium, 
where  coined  money  was  already  in  use.  Their  productions  and  com- 
merce were  too  varied  for  the  employment  of  so  rude  a  measure  of 
value  as  bangs.  Caesar  says  their  numbers  were  countless,  their  build- 
ings exceedingly  numerous,  their  wealth  great  in  cattle  and  cultivated 
lands,  and  their  industry  diversified ;  including  not  only  pasturage  and 
agriculture,  but  also  mining  for  tin  and  iron.  *"  Bangs  had  not  been 
used  by  the  Celtic  tribes  for  nearly  three  centuries,  that  is  to  say,  not 
since  they  had  learnt  the  superiority  of  coins  from  the  Greeks.  On 
the  other  hand,  their  use  among  the  Norsemen  at  this,  or  perhaps  even 
a  later,  period  is  proved  by  the  sagas,  ^'  and  the  conclusion  that  the 
ring-money  found  in  Britain  by  Caesar  belonged  to  the  Norse  tribes. 
in  the  remoter  parts  of  the  island  and  indicated  their  presence  there, 
seems  to  be  well  sustained.  "  When  added  to  the  evidences  of  archae- 
ology, customs  and  language  adduced  by  Wright,  Stillingfieet,  Pink- 
erton,  Du  Chaillu,  Dawkins,  Evans  and  other  writers  on  the  subject, °* 
the  body  of  proof  that  the  Norse  settlement  of  Britain  antedates  its. 
Roman  settlement,  becomes  difficult  to  overthrow. 

The  Norse-British  coinage  system  consisted  of  stycas,  scats  and  oras. 
The  styca  was  a  small  bronze  coin,  struck  from  the  composition  de- 
rived probably  from  the  melting  down  of  bronzes  and  containing  about 
70  per  cent,  of  copper  and  20  of  zinc,  the  remainder  consisting  of  tin, 
silver,  lead,  and  a  minute  proportion  of  gold.  The  extant  stycas  are 
confined  by  numismatists  to  Northumbria,  but  a  coin  of  similar  de- 

"  De  Bell.  Gall.,  v;  12.  Several  readings  of  this  important  passage  are  given  in 
Henry's  Hist.  Brit.,  11,  238.  The  reading  in  the  text  is  from  a  ms.  of  the  tenth  cent- 
ury. Mr.  Hawkins  discovered  that  this  passage  had  been  materially  corrupted  in  later 
copies.  Hawkins,  "Silver  Coins,"  p.  8,  and  Ch.  Knight,  Hist.  England,  i,  15,  citing 
the  remarks  on  ancient  coins  in  Moneta  Historica,  Brit.,"  p.  cii. 

^'^  Even  after  Cresar  had  ravaged  their  lands  the  Belgians  were  able  to  send  him  sup- 
plies of  corn  to  Gaul.  De  Bell.  Gal!.,  v,  ig,  20. 

*'  The  pagan  Norse  kings  who  ruled  in  Ireland  used  baug  money  until  they  were 
driven  out  of  that  country  in  the  twelfth  century.  This  is  what  Sir  John  Lubbock,  in 
his  article  on  Money,  in  the  "  Nineteenth  Century,"  loosely  called  the  "  ring  money 
of  the  anctent  Celts." 

*-  Cresar,  v,  g  and  ir,  alludes  to  the  civil  wars  which  preceded  his  arrival  in  Britain, 
and  which,  since  the  Celts  were  all  of  one  religion  (the  druidical),  we  may  reasonably 
surmise  were  occasioned  by  the  encroachments  of  the  heretical  Norsemen. 

^^  Doom-rings  and  other  Norse  antiquities  of  a  remote  date  which  have  been  found  ia 
Britain  are  alluded  to  elsewhere. 


172  ANCIENT    BRITAIN 

scription  and  used  as  a  divider  for  the  scat,  must  have  been  employed 
in  Kent  and  elsewhere.  The  scat  was  an  electrum  coin  struck  from 
the  composition  resulting  from  the  melting  down  of  gold  and  silver 
jewelry.  The  ora  was  a  coin  of  pure  or  nearly  pure  gold.  Originally 
containing  about  30  grains  of  gold  it  fell  successively  to  22  J/2,  20,  16, 
and  even  13  grains.  The  electrum  scats  weighed  about  the  same  as 
the  eras.  The  early  oras  are  known  among  modern  numismatists,  as 
gold  scats.  Sometimes  the  scats  were  stamped  with  the  svastica,  or 
Avith  runes,  a  peculiarity  that  does  not  appear  upon  any  coins  issued 
by  the  southern  kings  of  the  heptarchical  period.  Eight  stycaswent 
to  the  scat,  and  eight  scats  to  the  oro.  Owing  to  the  composite  na- 
ture of  the  scats,  the  ratio  between  gold  and  silver  is  indeterminable. 
Judging  from  the  numerical  relations  between  scats  and  oras,  the  ratio 
was  intended  to  be  8  for  i.  ^*  The  coin  ora  must  not  be  confused  with 
the  weight  ora,  which  was  afterwards  the  eighth  of  the  mark  weight, 
nor  must  the  money  of  account  called  the  mark,  of  which  more  anon, 
be  confused  with  the  weight  mark. 

There  is  a  remarkable  similarity  between  the  Gothic  coinage  sys- 
tem and  that  of  ancient  Japan.  There,  too,  coins  were  made  respect- 
ively of  gold,  electrum  and  bronze ;  the  gold  and  electrum  coins  were 
of  the  same  weight;  and  the  relative  value  of  these  even-weighted 
coins  indicated  that  of  the  metals  which  composed  them.  ^^  On  the 
■other  hand,  the  Norse-British  systems  were  distinctly  non-German. 
Styca  and  scat  are  Norse  terms  and  were  not  used  in  Germany;  mark 
is  also  a  Norse  term,  and  according  to  Agricola,  it  was  employed  by 
the  Goths  many  centuries  before  it  was  known  in  Germany.  The  ru- 
nic letters  and  svastica  are  both  Gothic  and  pagan.  The  Germans  did 
not  strike  gold  coins.  The  ratio  of  8  for  i  is  Gothic ;  that  of  Germany 
followed  the  Roman  law ;  and  down  to  the  thirteenth  century  was  either 
12  for  I  or  else,  at  times,  some  mean  between  this  and  the  Gothic 

^*  In  very  remote  ages,  some  ten  or  twelve  centuries  before  our  ?era,  the  ratio  in  India 
■was  5  for  i;  from  the  eighth  century  to  the  fifth  century  B.C.  it  was  6}^  for  i  and  with 
some  local  exceptions,  noticed  below,  it  appears  (from  Marco  Polo)  to  have  remained 
iixed  at  about  6)4  for  i  until  it  was  (quite  unnecessarily)  broken  down  by  the  blunder- 
ing of  the  Europeans  in  the  sixteenth  century.  During  the  European  middle  ages  the 
ratio  in  Delhi  was  8  for  i;  in  A.  D.  1340  it  was  7  for  i;  in  1380  it  was  6}4  for  i;  in 
1556  it  was  9  for  i.  Edward  Thomas,  "  Pathan  kings  of  Delhi,"  p.  235;  Prinseps, 
"  Useful  Tables;  "  Del  Mar's  Monetary  Works. 

'^^  The  Japanese  system  is  fully  descibed  in  the  author's  "Money  and  Civiliza- 
tion," chap.  XX.  The  reader  must,  however,  not  argue  too  much  from  this  resemblance. 
In  the  ruder  society  life  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  exchanges  were  comparatively  few  and 
simple  and  the  monetary  system  was  of  minor  importance ;  in  the  refinement  of  modern 
Japanese  life,  it  affected  the  foundations  of  equity  and  civil  order. 


GOTHIC    REMAINS    FOUND    IN    ENGLAND.  175 

ratio.  Finally,  the  independent  issues  of  gold  and  electrum  coins 
were  essentially  Gothic,  because  the  Goths,  down  to  the  eighth,  ninth 
or  tenth  centuries  were  pagans,  and  refused  to  acknowledge  the  pope ; 
whilst  the  Germans,  from  the  date  when  their  country  was  made  a  prov- 
ince of  the  empire,  had  invariably  bowed  to  its  ecclesiastical  authority. 

The  so-called  Anglo-Saxon  coins,  were  not  issued  by  any  central 
authority,  but  by  each  Norse  chieftain,  independent  of  the  others. 
For  this  reason  the  valuation  of  the  coins  and  the  metals  of  which 
they  were  made,  probably  greatly  varied.  More  important  than  all^ 
the  whole  number  of  coins  was  uncertain  and  subject  to  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  war.  A  successful  attack  upon  the  Romans,  who  down  to  the 
sixth  or  seventh  century  still  held  many  of  the  walled  towns  of  Brit- 
ain, might  in  a  single  day,  have  doubled  the  entire  circulation  of  a 
given  kingdom;  whilst  a  repulse,  followed  by  Roman  pursuit  and  re- 
prisals, might  as  suddenly  have  reduced  the  circulation  to  a  moiety. 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  ora  described  above  was  the 
original  Gothic  ora,  afterwards  called  the  gold  shilling,  (gull  skilling.) 
not  what  the  ora  became  in  later  ages.  As  time  went  on  it  continu- 
ally fell  in  weight;  the  ratio  of  silver  to  gold  changed  from  8  for  i 
to  Gyi  and  7^  for  i,  then  to  10  for  i,  then  to  12  for  i;  the  number 
of  scats,  or  as  they  were  afterwards  called,  pennies,  to  the  ora,  changed 
from  8  to  5,  then  to  4,  then  to  20,  12,  20  and  16.  *"  In  one  instance 
there  were  15  minutas  to  the  ora.  "Ora,  vernacula  aura,  Danis  ore, 
fuit  olim  genus  monetae  valens,  xv  minuta. "  "  These  may  have  been 
not  copper  coins,  but  silver  half-pence.  '**  It  would  be  tedious  to  ex- 
plain the  endless  combinations  to  which  the  changes  in  the  three  terms, 
viz.,  weight,  ratio,  and  value,  gave  rise.  Eventually  the  ora  became 
a  money  of  account,  and  as  the  ora  weight  was  one-eighth  of  a  mark 
weight,  so  the  ora  of  account  was  valued  at  one-eighth  of  the  mark  of 
account,  which  during  the  Norman  and  Plantagenet  teras,  consisted 
of  five  gold  maravedis,  each  weighing  two-thirds  of  the  Roman  sol- 
idus.  This  mode  of  fixing  the  value  of  the  ora  gave  rise  to  new  and 
still  more  perplexing  numismatic  problems,  all  of  which,  however,  are 
readily  solved  by  the  guides  herein  offered. 

These  systems  of  money  of  the  Norse  or  so-called  Anglo-Saxon 
chieftains  of  Britain,  are  relied  upon  to  sustain  the  conclusions  arrived 
at  elsewhere  in  this  work,  with  regard  to  the  racial  origin,  the  religion, 

2^  Domesday  Book;  Ruding  i,  315.  The  relation  of  four  scats  to  the  ora  was  enacted 
prior  to  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century.  Judicia  Civitatis,  Londonia;;  Ruding,  i,  309. 
■"  Dolmerus,  in  Du  Fresne,  in  Fleetwood,  27. 
**  The  minuta  of  the  Netherlands  was  the  les,  or  Es.  (Budelius). 


174  ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 

the  form  of  government  of  these  people,  and  the  date  of  their  advent 
in  Britain.  Both  from  the  types,  materials  and  names  of  the  moneys, 
the  runic  letters  and  svasticas  inscribed  upon  the  coins,  the  ratio  be- 
tween silver  and  gold  in  the  latter,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
issued,  it  is  submitted  that  they  either  prove  or  corroborate  the  fol- 
lowing results:  First,thattheNorsemen,or  Anglo-Saxons,  as  they  were 
afterwards  called,  settled  in  Britain  and  occupied  the  northern  por- 
tion of  it  at  a  very  early  date,  probably  long  before  the  landing  of  Ju- 
lius Caesar.  Second,  that  these  people  were  Goths.  Third,  that  they 
Avere  polytheists.  Fourth,  that  they  formed  independent  chieftain- 
ships or  kingdoms  in  Britain.  Fifth,  that  after  an  impatient  interval 
of  submission  to  the  Roman  proconsuls,  an  interval  which  must  have 
ended  with  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  Norse  chieftains  fre- 
quently revolted  and  in  the  fifth  century  became  independent,  and  so 
remained,  until  they  wt;re  brought  under  the  yoke  of  the  gospel. 

The  dryness  and  difficulty  of  these  details  should  not  discourage 
the  reader  who  desires  to  learn  the  real  history  of  Ancient  Britain, 
for  it  is  only  by  sifting  and  arranging  those  facts  which  were  too 
obscure  to  merit  destruction  by  the  hands  of  the  Sacred  College,  that 
the  truth  can  be  determined  and  rehabilitated.  Were  there  no  circum- 
stances to  dispute,  were  there  no  false  history  to  tear  down,  a  smooth 
and  interesting  narrative  would  be  one  of  the  easiest  of  literary  com- 
positions. But  the  world  is  wearied  with  historical  rhetoric;  it  de- 
mands historical  truth;  for  upon  that  alone  can  it  rely  for  those 
lessons  of  experience  which  may  serve  it  for  a  guide  to  future  legis- 
lation and  wise  government. 


175 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PRETENDED    RRETWEALDAS    OF    THE    HEPTARCHY. 

Imaginary  emperors  of  Britain — The  title  of  Bretwealda  was  evidently  bestowed  by 
the  pope — Its  emptiness  proved  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  coinages — Conflicting  monetary 
systems  of  the  Heptarchy — Utter  lack  of  correspondence  in  the  heptarchical  govern- 
ments— Efforts  made  to  unite  tlie  coinages  and  the  governments — Their  failure — Con- 
tinuance of  the  heptarchical  anarchy. 

SIR  FRANCIS  PALGRAVE  has  laboured  hard  to  prove  that  during 
the  Heptarchy,  England  was  an  united  and  independent  empire, 
governed  by  a  bretwealda  which  he  translates  the  "britain-wielder," 
under  whom  served  the  six  other  kings  of  that  happy  commonwealth. 
His  list  of  the  successive  bretwealdas  comprises  the  following  names; 

TABLE    OF    THE    SO-CALLED    BRETWEALDAS    OF    ENGLAND. 
Period.  Name.  Religion.  Kingdom. 

477-514  Ella,  Pagan  Sussex. 

560-591  Ceawlin,  Alleged  christian  Wessex. 

561-616  Ethelbert,  Pagan  until  A.  D.  597  Kent. 

599-624  Redwald,  Alleged  christian  East  Anglia. 

616-633  Edwine,  Pagan  ;  then  christian  Northumbria. 

635-642  Oswald,  Alleged  christian  Northumbria. 

642 Oswia,orOswin,*  Alleged  christian  Deira. 

689-728  Ina,*  Papal-christian  Wessex. 

801-836  Egbert,  Papal-christian  Wessex, 

872-901  Alfred,  Papal-christian  Wessex. 

901-925  Edward,  Elder,     Papal-christian  Wessex. 

925-941  Athelstan,  Papal-christian  Wessex, 

941-946  Edmund  I.,  Papal-christian  Wessex, 

946-955  Edred,  Papal-christian  Wessex. 

955~959  Eadwy,  Fair,         Papal-christian  Wessex, 

959~975  Edgar,  Papal-christian  AVessei, 

975-978  Edward,  Martyr,  Papal-christian  Wessex, 

978-1016  Ethelred  II.,  Papal-christian  Wessex, 

1016-1017  Edmund  II.  Papal-christian  Wessex. 

1017-1035  Canute,  Papal-christian  Denmark  &Eng. 

1042-1066  Edward,  Confes.  Papal-christian  England. 

Mr.  Freeman  without  going  so  far  as  Sir  Francis,  assents  to  eight 
bretwealdas.    Two  of  these,  indicated  by  asterisks,are  not  admitted 


176  ANCIHNl     bRITAIN. 

by  Sir  Francis.  The  anarchical  condition  in  which  England  was 
plunged  during  the  entire  period  between  the  Gothic  risings  and 
the  Norman  conquest,  when  its  history  was  filled  with  incessant  wars, 
murders,  and  usurpations,  seems  to  render  sui)ernuous  the  task  of 
contruverting  this  theory.  But  as  it  is  supported  by  such  high  author- 
ity, it  requires  something  more  than  mere  denial. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  there  is  not  sufficient 
warrant  for  including  the  pagan  king  Ella  among  the  bretwealdas. 
There  is  no  original  document,  or  charter,  or  record,  or  seal,  or  coin, 
or  inscription,  or  monument,  of  any  kind,  toattest  his  pretended  bret- 
wealdaship,  nothing,  except  the  monastic  chronicle  of  Bede,  upon 
which  suspicious  foundation  all  this  superstructure  of  theory  is  built.' 
Ella  is  deemed  a  bretwealda  apparently  merely  to  carry  the  imagin- 
ary series  back  to  the  earliest  assumed  Anglo-Saxon  period,  and  to 
connect  this  with  the  Roman  period.  His  name  should  be  erased  from 
the  list.  We  are  warranted  in  doing  this  by  Ragnar  Lodbrok's  Saga 
and  the  Ynlinga  Saga,  both  of  which  texts  assure  us  that  contempo- 
raneously with  Ella  of  Northumbria,  Ivan  Vidfami  of  Sweden  reigned 
over  a  large  portion  of  England  and  rebuilt  London.  We  have  another 
warrant  in  the  evidence  of  archaeology  and  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Scarth, 
Dr.  Bruce,  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  and  Mr.  Wright,  concerning  the  pe- 
riod when  Christianity  was  introduced  into  Britain,  which  was  really 
later  than  the  reign  of  Ella.  When  this  chieftain's  name  is  erased 
from  the  apochryphal  list,  which  the  credulous  Bede  accepted  from 
the  simulated  archives  of  Rome,  it  will  appear  that  all  the  bretwealdas 
were  christians  and  most  of  them  were  kings  of  Wessex.  Ecclesias- 
tical history  informs  us  that  they  were  all  good  men ;  the  wicked  ones 
were  such  as  Penda,  Ethelbald,  and  Offa,  who  were  pagans. 

Pagans  though  these  wicked  kings  were,  they  each  in  fact  reigned 
over  a  wider  dominion  and  exercised  a  greater  authority  than  any 
other  of  the  heptarchical  kings  down  to  their  times;  yet  neither  of 
them  assumed,  nor  were  they  accorded  the  title  of  bretwealda.  The 
latter,  therefore,  appears  to  have  been  a  distinction  reserved  exclu- 
sively for  the  good  kings;  meaning  those  who  received  their  pewter 
medals  from  Rome.  Sir  Francis  notices  this  fact,  but  omits  the  ex- 
planation we  have  given  of  it;  evidently  because  the  latter  w^ould  not 
harmonize  with  his  theory.  If  the  bretwealda  was  an  actual  and  ac- 
knowledged over-lord,  why  were  not  Penda  and  Offa  called  bretweal- 
das? Did  not  the  other  heptarchical  kings  acknowledge  these  pagans 
as  their  over-lords  and  actually  pay  them  homage  and  tribute?  And 

'  Bede's  list  of  bretwealdas  includes  Redwald  of  East  Anglia,  599-624. 


PRETENDED    liRKTVVEALD AS    OF    THE    HEPTARCHY.  I  77 

in  such  case  how  could  the  virtuous  Edwine,  Oswald  and  Oswia  have 
been  bretwealdas,  who  were  vassals  and  tributaries  to  the  wicked 
Penda?  What  king  other  than  Offa  was  the  bretwealda,  while  he  was 
king  of  Mercia? 

If  we  entertain  the  very  natural  supposition  that  the  court  of  Rome, 
in  order  to  bring  the  barbarian  princes  or  chieftaius  ' '  under  the  yoke 
of  the  gospel  "  granted  some  of  them  an  empty  title,  which  would 
nevertheless  be  recognized  at  Rome,  and  might  carry  some  moral 
weight  among  the  evangelized  inhabitants  of  Britain,  we  shall  come 
at  once  to  the  whole  secret  of  this  petty  conceit  and  the  motives  of 
the  ecclesiastics  who  encouraged  it  and  bequeathed  it  to  history.  How- 
ever, we  shall  presently  have  better  proofs  to  offer  concerning  its  true 
character.  In  other  words,  it  will  be  shown  that  bretwealda  was  a 
title  which  was  not  acknowledged  by  the  surrounding  chieftains  and 
exercised  no  power  over  them.  It  was  something  like  the  title  and 
cocked  hat  which  we  bestow  upon  the  African  chieftains  whom  we  de- 
sire to  cajole;  a  beautiful  thing  to  parade  in,  and  to  excite  the  envy 
of  the  weak,  but  never  to  command  the  respect,  obedience,  or  vas- 
salage, of  the  stronger,  chieftains. 

As  for  the  argument  that  some  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  in  char- 
ters still  extant,  called  themselves  bretwealdas,  this  is  no  confirma- 
tion of  the  theory  at  all.  Most  of  these  charters  are  rank  forgeries, 
utterly  unworthy  of  credence  and  useless  for  inference.  Sir  Francis 
and  Mr.  Freeman  both  admit  this;  yet  they  insist  upon  drawing  his- 
torical inferences  from  them.  Even  were  the  charters  admitted  to  be 
genuine,  is  it  a  valid  argument  to  infer  a  permanent  theory  of  gov- 
ernment for  seven  kingdoms,  from  the  temporary  relations  of  one  or 
two  or  three  of  them,  towards  one  another,  the  accidental  result  of 
war  or  other  vicissitude;  or  worse  yet,  to  derive  the  constitutions  of 
states  from  the  titles  which  its  princes  choose  to  give  themselves? 
Julius  Csesar  styled  himself  Son  of  God;  Augustus  proclaimed  Julius  as 
God  the  Father,  and  himself  as  God's  Son;  the  Count  of  Vermadois 
was  announced  to  Alexius  I. — to  whom  he  afterwards  paid  homage  and 
whose  feet  he  kissed — as  the  brother  of  the  King  of  Kings,  meaning 
Philip  I.,  of  France;^  whilst  the  emperor  of  China  of  the  present  day 
terms  himself  (we  believe)  the  Son  of  Heaven.  Are  civil  institutions 
to  be  deduced  from  flights  of  impiety,  pretension,  and  egotism? 

Sir  Francis  Palgrave  having  discovered,  as  he  supposed, that  bret- 
wealda was  a  Gothic  analogue  of  emperor,  at  once  seeks  to  carry  this 
Gothic  imperial  line  back  to  the  Roman  period.    For  this  purpose,  as 

*  Gibbon,  vi,  32,  «y  Matthew  Paris,  A.  D,  1254;  Froissart,  iv,  201. 


178  ANCIKNT    ItKITAlN. 

before  explained,  he  is  only  loo  ^lad  to  "annex"  Ella,  in  order  liiat 
he  may  select  from  among  the  Roman  emperors  some  one  suitable 
to  the  continuity  of  his  theory.  And  whom,  will  it  be  imagined  he 
settle^  upon?  Let  him  s[)eak  for  himself:  "Accustomed  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  provincial  emperors,  since  the  glorious  reii^n  of  their  own 
Carai/sius,  the  Britons  still  considered  their  country  as  an  empire."' 
"What  a  perversion  of  facts;  what  a  distortion  of  history!  Carausius 
wasaMenapian;  the  people  over  whom  he  reigned  were  either  Goths, 
or  like  himself,  of  Gothic  extraction ;  his  government  was  an  usurpa- 
tion and  a  protest  against  Roman  hierarchical  government.  When  it 
ceased  to  be  that,  it  fell  to  pieces,  and  the  "Britons"  slew  him  and 
set  up  Allectus  in  his  place.  Yet  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  the 
same  Gothic  people,  who  in  every  act  of  their  communal  existence 
evinced  their  hatred  of  hierarchical  govern!nent,  deemed  glorious  the 
memory  of  that  Carausius  who  had  betrayed  them  to  Rome  and  re- 
joiced in  the  contemplation  of  an  imperial  bondage  which  they  de- 
tested, and  to  which  they  had  invariably  shown  their  repugnance! 

The  proofs  which  we  have  elsewhere  put  forward  to  refute  the  the- 
ory of  a  bretwealdadom  during  the  Heptarchy  belong  to  the  positive 
science  of  numismatics, but  they  are  better  than  ordinary  numismatic 
proofs.  They  bear  that  higher  relation  to  the  science  of  numismatics 
which  comparative  philology  bears  to  verbalism.  Just  as  in  an  histori- 
cal labyrinth,  the  grammatical  structure  of  a  language  is  a  much  safer 
guide  than  the  mere  similarity  of  letters  or  sounds,  so  is  the  struc- 
ture of  a  monetary  system,  as  compared  with  mere  types  of  coins. 

It  has  been  shown  that  during  the  Heptarchy  the  monetary  systems 
of  the  various  kings  were  different  in  many  essential  particulars,  that 
the  Gothic  and  Christian  coins  were  issued  upon  peculiar  and  entirely 
different  and  distinctive  systems,  that  the  mode  of  reckoning  in  them 
was  different,  that  the  arithmetical  relations  between  the  coins  of 
each  series  was  different,  that  the  ratio  of  value  between  the  precious 
metals  was  different ;  and  it  was  shown  that  while  this  diversity  lasted, 
there  could  have  been  no  bretwealadom,  no  overlord-ship,  no  unity 
of  the  various  provinces,  no  united  empire  or  kingdom  of  England, 
in  the  sense  pretended  or  supposed.  This  diversity  of  moneys  and 
monetary  laws  was  accompanied  by  a  diversity  of  other  laws.  It  is 
mentioned  both  by  Blackstone  and  Palgrave  that  when  William  the 
Norman  landed  in  England  he  found  in  use  three  distinct  codes  of 
civil  law,  the  Mercian,  the  Danish  and  the  West  Saxon."  At  least  one 
of  these  codes  was  essentially  pagan,  whilst  another  one  was  essen- 

^  Palgrave,  i,  563.  ''Blackstone,  i,  65;  Palgrave,  49, 


PRETENDED    HRETWEALDAS    OF    THE    HEPTARCHY.  1 79 

tially  christian.  Unless  it  be  shown  that  a  united  kingdom  can  be 
governed  at  once  by  three  coordinate  and  diverse  systems  and  codes 
of  law  and  its  industries  and  social  relations  carried  on  with  three 
coordinate,  diverse  and  confusing  systems  of  money,  the  theory  of 
the  Wessexian  bretwealdadom  must  be  dismissed  once  for  all. 

To  appreciate  the  maddening  confusion  which  the  mobilization  and 
mingling  of  three  monetary  systems,  (the  Gothic,  Moslem  and  Ro- 
mano-christian,)  would  have  wrought  in  England,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  briefly  summarize  their  prominent  characteristics.  The  Gothic  (pa- 
gan) system  consisted  of  native  coins  of  bronze,  of  gold,  and  of  elec- 
trum,  the  latter  of  uncertain  composition,  and  all  of  them  of  irregular 
weights.  The  coins  were  issued  by  a  multitude  of  chieftains;  they 
exhibit  no  marks  of  central  monetary  authority ;  the  tale  relations  were 
octonary;  and  the  ratio  of  silver  to  gold  was  8  for  i.  The  Moslem 
(heretical)  system  consisted  of  native  and  Moslem  gold  and  silver 
coins,  of  sterling  standard  and  regular  weights.  The  native  Moslem 
coins  were  issued  by  the  most  ambitious  and  powerful  of  the  Gothic 
princes,  yet  even  these  were  not  sufficiently  powerful  to  prevent  the 
circulation  of  foreign  coins  within  their  dominions.  The  tale  relations 
of  these  coins  were  decimal,  and  the  ratio  was  6^  for  i.  The  Roman 
(christian)  system  consisted  of  gold  and  silver  coins,  nearly  fine,  and 
of  bronze  coin.s,  all  of  which  were  valued  by  law  in  moneys  of  ac- 
count, called;^  s.  d.  The  silver  coins  were  mostly  the  product  of 
native  mints,  whilst  the  gold  ones  were  supplied  exclusively  by  the 
sacred  mint  of  Byzantium.  The  issues  of  silver  coins  were  made  both 
by  princes,  bishops,  and  barons.  The  tale  relations  were  partly  deci- 
mal and  partly  duodenary,  and  the  ratio  was  always  12  for  i.^ 

In  perusing  these  systems  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  do- 
mains of  the  several  heptarchical  kings  were  often  increased  or  di- 
minished, as  when  Sussex  was  added  to  Wessex  and  East  Anglia  to 
Mercia,  or  as  when,  contrariwise,  Oxford  and  Gloucestershire  were 
taken  from  Wessex, and  Kent  and  Essex  from  Mercia;  and  that  when- 
ever any  of  the  heptarchical  princes  gained  such  advantages  as  ap- 
peared to  promise  him  dominion  over  the  whole  or  a  great  portion  of 
England,  among  his  first  ordinances  was  usually  one  to  unify  the  di- 
versity of  moneys.  Such  ordinances  were  issued  by  Egbert,  Athelstan 
II.,  Alfred,  Ethelstan  his  grandson,  and  others;  and  their  failure  fur- 
nishes still  another  proof  of  the  continued  diversity  of  moneys  and 
the  absence  of  any  unital  and  independent  government  in  England. 

These  details  may  seem  superfluous  to  some  readers.    But  the  false 

*  Del  Mar's  "  History  of  Monetary  Sj-stems." 


l8o  ANCIENT    HKITAIN. 

history  of  England  which  we  have  undertaken  to  expose  is  not  to  be 
destroyed  by  reference  to  "authorities,"  all  of  which  have  been  cre- 
ated and  set  up  by  the  same  designing  hands.  So  far  as  books  go, the 
Sacred  College  of  Rome  had  the  entire  making  of  European  history 
in  its  own  hands,  until  the  invention  of  printing  put  an  end  to  its 
monopoly.  If  we  would  look  beneath  the  mendacious  fabric  it  cre- 
ated we  must  have  recourse  to  other  evidences  than  books,and  none 
of  these  are  so  important  or  convincing  as  coins;  first,  because  coins 
are  fabricated  in  large  numbers  and  are  difficult  or  impossible  to  suc- 
cessfully falsify;  second,  because  it  was  customary  to  bury  them  for 
safety  in  subterranean  hordes  from  whence  they  have  been  rescued 
in  modern  times;  and  third,  because  of  the  peculiar  and  significant 
attributes  and  inferences  which  are  to  be  derived  from  the  study  of 
nummulary  systems. 

The  coins  of  the  Heptarchy  condemn  the  received  history  of  Eng- 
land as  false.  The  issuance  of  gold  coins  by  certain  princes  of  the 
Heptarchy  prove  that  those  princes  were  pagans,  who  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge the  sovereignty  of  the  Roman  empire;  for  no  christian 
prince  other  than  the  Basileus  possessed  or  exercised  the  right  to 
strike  a  gold  coin  previous  to  the  Fall  of  Constantinople.  It  was  for- 
bidden and  rendered  sacrilegious  by  the  pagan  pontifical  and  after- 
wards by  the  christian  pontifical  law.  The  higher  valuation  of  silver 
to  gold  which  the  Goths  and  Moslems  accorded,  as  compared  with 
the  Romans,  places  the  former  outside  the  limits  of  the  Roman  im- 
perial state.  And  the  regnal  periods  stamped  on  the  coins  affix  precise 
dates  to  all  of  these  circumstances.  Moreover,  they  prove  that  no 
such  sole  sovereignties  existed  in  England  as  has  been  claimed;  that 
though  some  of  the  heptarchical  "  kingdoms  "  were  united,  they  were 
not  united  into  a  single  kingdom;  and  that  the  suzerainty  of  Rome 
over  England,  though  greatly  strengthened  from  the  time  of  Offa  to 
that  of  Harold,  was  far  from  the  attainment  of  that  complete  control 
for  which  Rome  contended  and  upon  which, had  it  been  conceded, she 
was  prepared  to  base  other  and  greater  claims. 

The  hypothesis  of  a  Britain-wielderand  of  an  early  British  Empire  is 
in  all  probability  based  upon  a  mere  verbal  quibble,  the  common  ma- 
terial of  the  historical  romances  which  were  constructed  in  medieval 
Rome.  In  the  First  Book  of  Caesar's  Commentaries  of  the  Wars  in 
Gaul  we  read  of  Liscus,  chief  of  the  ^duans,  "who  is  styled  Bergo- 
bret  in  the  language  of  the  country  and  appointed  yearly,  with  power 
of  life  and  death."  Bergobretwas  equivalent  to  Burghmaster;  Bret- 
wealda  was  equivalent  to  Forester,  or  Chief  of  the  Woods;  one  was 


PRETENDED  BRETWEALDAS  OF  THE  HEPTARCHY.        l8l 

the  chieftain  of  an  urban,  the  other  of  a  provincial,  tribe.  Here  is 
the  theory  of  the  Venerable  Bede  brought  to  book;  here  is  Sir  Fran- 
cis Palgrave's  British  imperial  dynasty  stripped  of  its  Roman  ecclesi- 
astical dress  and  reduced  to  simple  truth.  The  collapse  is  lamentable. 
The  general  result  of  these  researches  is  that  whilst  the  pagan  states 
of  England  were  indigenous  growths  and  acknowledged  no  suzerain, 
the  christain  states  were  the  offspring  of  the  Roman  pontificate  and 
amenable  to  its  control.  Their  political  relations  to  Rome — not  as 
construed  by  national  pride  but  as  shown  by  contemporaneous  evi- 
dences, among  which  is  the  conclusive  evidence  of  the  coinages — were 
those  of  feudal  provinces,  whose  princes  were  not  independent,  but 
vassals  of  a  distant  suzerain;  provinces  whose  laws  were  not  final,  but 
subject  to  appellate  Rome;  provinces  of  limited  powers,  restricted, 
bound,  conditioned,  hampered,  burdened  and  hindered  by  institutes 
whose  history  had  been  forgotten  and  whose  origin  was  unknown. 


l82 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE     NORMAN    CONQUEST. 

Fiction  of  an  united  England — The  first  break  in  the  continuity  of  Roman  power, 
since  the  evangelization  of  the  Romano-British  provinces,  was  effected  by  William  I. 
— He  betrays  and  defies  the  pope,  siezes  the  ecclesiastical  properties  and  unites  Eng- 
land under  one  government — Retrospect  and  conclusion. 

THE  monkish  fiction  of  an  united  Anglo-Saxon  England, invented 
to  hide  the  fact  of  an  England  kept  disunited  by  the  oppres- 
sions, impieties  and  intrigues  of  Rome,  not  only  deceived  Sir  Francis 
Palgrave  and  Mr.  Freeman,  it  has  misled  many  other  writers  on  the 
subject.  Egbert,  Alfred,  Athelstan,  and  Canute,  are  frequently  men- 
tioned as  "sole  monarchs,"  as  though  they  ruled  a  kingdom  which 
embraced  all  England,  as  though  they  were  each  in  turn  the  only  sov- 
ereigns of  that  kingdom,  and  as  though  they  were  independent  of  any 
control.  On  the  contrary,  the  numismatic  monuments  assure  us  that 
England  continued  to  be  divided  into  provinces  much  as  it  was  di- 
vided under  the  Sacred  constitution  of  pagan  Rome;  that,at  the  most, 
these  princes  only  succeeded  in  uniting  some  of  those  provinces;  and 
that  they  were  all  vassals,  from  whom  homage  and  tribute  were  de- 
manded, either  by  the  Basileus  and  his  hierarchical  successors,  by 
Charlemagne  and  his  self-styled  "imperial"  successors,  or  by  pope 
Hadrian  and  his  sacerdotal  successors.  It  is  true  that  these  demands 
were  not  always  complied  with.  The  Sacred  College  had  subdued  the 
reason,  but  not  the  freedom-loving  instincts  of  the  Goths;  and  wher- 
ever this  race  predominated,  the  feudal  claims  of  the  pontificate  met 
with  resistance. 

That  the  Norman  conquest  of  England  was  greatly  facilitated  by  a 
papal  attempt  to  bring  the  country  more  thoroughly  under  Roman  sub- 
jection, is  now,  we  believe,  an  historical  fact,  too  commonly  admit- 
ted, to  need  corroboration.  The  grants  of  Apulia  to  Robert  Guiscard 
and  of  England  to  William  of  Normandy  were  made  at  about  the  same 
time,  and  both  attest  the  weakness  of  the  pontificate  at  this  period; 


THE    NORMAN    CONQUEST.  I03 

for  the  religious  fidelity  of  the  Norman  chieftains  was  well  known  to 
be  subordinate  to  their  love  of  freedom,  conquest  and  plunder;  while 
the  concessions  by  pope  Nicholas  to  Robert  and  by  pope  Alexander 
to  William,  would  hardly  have  been  made,  if  the  kingdoms  granted 
to  them  could  have  been  brought  under  pontifical  control  without  their 
assistance. 

But  although  the  pope's  banner,  under  which  William  fought  at  Hast- 
ings and  the  pope's  approbation,  which  attended  his  coronation  at 
Westminster,  both  contributed  to  render  the  conquest  easy,  it  would 
appear  that  the  permanence  of  William's  government  was  due  to  cir- 
cumstances of  precisely  an  opposite  bearing.  It  was  the  wily  Norman's 
subservience  to  the  pope  that  conquered  the  nobles  and  prelates;  it 
was  his  subsequent  defiance  of  the  pope  that  conciliated  the  people; 
for  this  people,  like  himself,  was  of  a  race  that  had  never  failed  to  en- 
tertain an  aversion  to  hierarchical  government. 

The  Norman  conquest  of  England  was  not  merely  a  change  of  sov- 
ereigns, nor  the  introduction  of  anew  set  of  chieftains — which  is  prob- 
ably all  that  the  pontificate  anticipated  when  it  lent  its  approval  to 
the  project — it  was  a  change  of  system  from  many  masters  to  one  mas- 
ter, from  anarchy  to  kingship,  from  confusion  to  order,  from  the  petty 
governments  of  Saxon  and  Danish  princes,  many  of  them  new  to  the 
religion  of  Rome  and  easily  duped  by  the  methods  which  the  pont- 
ificate practiced  to  keep  communities  apart,  to  the  sovereignty  of  a 
single  Norse  prince  who  was  well  aware  of  the  craft  and  intrigues  of 
the  papal  court.  Egbert  and  Alfred,  Edward  and  Canute,  had  been 
kings  in  the  limited  sense  that  they  paid  homage  either  to  the  west- 
ern emperor  or  the  western  pope  and,  in  turn,  received  homage  from 
some  (though  not  all)  of  the  petty  princes  of  England.  William  emu- 
lated the  policy  of  Charlemagne,  which  was  to  climb  by  the  church, 
throw  down  the  ladder  and  reign  supreme;  to  not  only  govern  the 
lords  and  the  priesthood,  but  the  commons  as  well;  and  to  amalga- 
mate and  hammer  into  one  the  diverse  laws  and  institutions  which 
characterized  the  ancient  subdivisions  of  the  country.  Among  the 
evidences  of  this  design  are  the  respect  which  William  exhibited  for 
religion,  at  the  same  time  that  he  plundered  the  monasteries:  his  re- 
fusal to  acknowledge  himself  a  vassal  of  Rome ;  his  separation  of  the 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  courts  of  law;  his  command  to  the  English 
clergy  not  to  absent  themselves  from  the  kingdom  without  his  per- 
mission, nor  acknowledge  any  pope,  nor  publish  any  instructions  from 
Rome,  nor  hold  any  councils,  nor  promulgate  any  canons,  nor  pro- 
nounce anysentence  of  excommunication  upona  noble ;  nor  coin  money 


184  ANCIENT    liKITAIN. 

without  his  consent  and  approval.  Ignoring  the  papal  grant  whose 
potent  instrumentality  had  delivered  England  into  his  hands,  William 
seized  upon  the  principalities,  manors,  and  benefices  of  the  clergy, 
rifled  their  treasures,  plundered  their  plate,  infringed  their  privileges 
and  invested  his  own  followers  with  their  lucrative  livings.  In  the 
face  of  the  papal  edicts  concerning  investitures, he  reduced  the  church 
lands  to  the  condition  of  knight  fees  or  baronies,  and  compelled  the 
bishops  to  afford  him  that  military  service,  for  which  every  Gothic 
prince,  since  Clovis,  had  contended,  but  which,  so  great  was  yet  the 
power  of  Rome,  that  but  few  of  them  had  succeeded  in  securing  from 
ecclesiastics.' 

The  success  of  these  measures  was  due  neither  to  the  numbers  nor 
the  valour  of  William's  followers,  but  to  the  indifference  or  sympathy 
of  the  commons.  The  British  and  Roman  elements  of  the  population 
had  faded  into  comparative  insignificance  and  had  been  replaced  with 
Angles,  Saxons,  Jutes,  Danes,  Norwegians,  Menapians  and  Normans. 
All  of  these  people  were  of  kindred  blood,  habits,  and  convictions; 
and  among  these  convictions  remained  that  ineradicable  hatred  of 
sacerdotal  government  which  characterized  the  Gothic  tribes  at  the 
beginning  of  history  and  which  characterizes  their  descendants  to- 
day.* It  is  asking  us  too  much  to  believe  that  William's  military  j^ower 
was  sufficient  to  crush  the  numerous  rebellions  of  the  "  Anglo-Saxon" 
lords  which  distinguished  his  reign,  unless  he  had  been  largely  sup- 
ported by  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  inferior  "  Anglo-Saxon  "  no- 
bility. His  Norman  followers  were  not  the  only  nobles  in  England 
who  knew  the  Song  of  Roland,  nor  the  only  ones  who  lifted  their 
voices  to  proclaim  William  as  king  of  England  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
We  have  repeated  instances  throughout  the  dark  and  medieval  ages, 
of  Gothic  chieftains  and  princes,  whose  military  prestige  and  admin- 
istrative ability  rendered  them  superior  to  the  always  decaying  gov- 
ernment of  Rome,  and  compelled  it  for  a  time  to  bow  to  their  will. 
Alaric,  Clovis,  Charlemagne,  Offa,  William  of  Normandy,  were  all 
leaders  of  this  stamp.  But  their  institutes  rarely  survived  their  reigns. 
Rome,  even  in  its  decay,  was  so  active  and  persistent  that  it  succes- 
sively destroyed  them  all.    It  was  a  contest  between  individuals  who 

*  Military  service  from  ecclesiastics  has  only  been  secured  by  the  French  govern- 
ment within  the  past  few  years. 

^  The  necessity  for  those  frequent  interdictions  of  Druidical  and  Gothic  rites  and 
customs  which  appear  in  the  canons  of  Edgar,  Athelstan,  and  other  sub-papal  princes 
of  this  period,  prove  the  large  element  of  anti-papal  sentiment  and  opinion  entertained 
by  the  people  of  England.  Spelman,  Concil.,  i,  443-7S;  Henry.  Hist.  Britain,  11,  275. 
It  also  explains  the  popularity  of  Godwin  and  his  sons. 


THE    NORMAN    CONQUEST.  185 

lived,  differed,  and  died,  and  a  Corporation  which  lived,  but  never 
faltered  and  could  not  die.  Sooner  or  later  these  princes  passed  away, 
and  sooner  or  later  Rome  resumed  its  unnatural  and  decrepid  sway. 
The  line  of  Clovis  disappeared  with  the  feeble  princes  whose  shadowy 
thrones  were  seized  by  episcopal  mayors  of  the  palace;  the  line  of 
Charlemagne  terminated  with  the  Saintly,  the  Bald,  the  Stammering, 
and  the  Simple,  mere  puppets  of  Roman  intrigue;  Offa  and  his  laws 
were  both  buried  in  a  Roman  monastery;  and  William's  institutes  ex- 
pired in  the  Roman  vassalage  of  Stephen  and  John. 

Despite  the  brave  words  in  which  William's  reply  was  conveyed  to 
pope  Gregory,  there  are  many  evidence  to  indicate  that  the  Norman 
did  not  intend  to  wholly  disavow  the  suzerainty  of  the  empire.  He 
never  infringed  the  prerogatives  that  still  remained  in  the  hands  of 
the  pope's  ancient  suzerain,  the  Sacred  emperor  of  Constantinople; 
he  created  no  nobles  of  the  rank  of  prince  or  duke;  he  chartered  no 
corporations;  he  convened  no  national  senate  or  parliament;  he  en- 
tered into  no  treaties  with  foreign  nations ;  he  abstained  from  foreign 
wars;  he  neither  sent  nor  received  foreign  ambassadors;  he  main- 
tained neither  standing  army  nor  fleet ;  he  claimed  no  mines  royal ;  he 
struck  no  gold  coins;  he  made  no  alteration  in  the  Roman  valuation 
of  gold  and  silver  money.  These  were  prerogatives  of  sovereignty, 
which,  from  the  moment  that  the  monarchs  of  England  became 
undeniably  independent,  were  all  exercised  with  unmistakeable 
vigour;  yet  the  Norman  conqueror  did  not  venture  to  indulge  in 
one  of  them.  ^ 

His  attitude  was  a  waiting  one,  and  it  remained  a  waiting  one  so 
long  as  he  lived.  If  the  pontificate  under  Alexander  was  weak,  the 
empire  underthe  infant  Henry  IV.,  and  the  regent  Agnes,  was  weaker; 
and  as  the  attitude  attributed  to  William  was  not  assumed  until  after 
that  deadly  struggle  between  western  pope  and  emperor  had  broken 
out,  which  deprived  both  these  powers  of  the  means  to  enforce  their 
claims  of  suzerainty,  it  would  seem  that  William,  too  conscious  of  his 
inability  to  hold  England  against  the  wishes  of  the  winner  in  this  con- 

^  The  coinage  of  gold  was  a  proclamation  of  absolute  sovereignty,  a  prerogative  of 
the  Cresars,  which  descended  to  the  Basileus,  and  was  never  attempted  to  be  exercised 
by  any  christian  prince  until  he  was  prepared  to  assert  his  independence  of  the  Em- 
pire. This  subject  is  treated  at  length  in  the  author's  other  works.  Themancusses  of 
Offa  were  pagan  coins.  The  first  christian  gold  coins  of  England  (barring  one  or  two 
doubtful  pieces  weakly  attributed  to  certain  "bishops"  of  the  heptarchical  period) 
were  struck  by  Henry  III.  in  1257,  that  is  to  say,  half  a  century  later  than  the  Fall 
of  Constantinople  and  the  Basileus.  The  earliest  instance  of  a  claim  by  the  British 
crown  to  mines  royal  is  to  be  found  in  the  47th  year  of  Henry  III.,  1262. 


l86  ANCIENT    KRITAIN. 

test,  prudently  awaited  its  issue,  before  assuming  an  entirely  indepen- 
dent position." 

In  seeking  to  determine  the  precise  status  of  medieval  kings  and 
kingdoms  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  chronicles  of  this  period 
were  written  by  ecclesiastics,  subject  to  the  power  and  authority  of 
the  Roman  Sacred  College.  Among  the  principles  which  governed 
the  policy  of  this  corporation  none  was  more  essential  to  its  perpet- 
uity than  the  suppression  of  every  vestige  of  the  ancient  Common- 
wealth, because  that  government  had  taught  to  the  world  the  lesson 
that  a  priesthood  could  be  maintained  without  benefices  and  that  the 
civil  power  was  superior  to  the  ecclesiastical.  Hence  the  destruction 
of  nearly  al!  the  literature  relating  to  this  rera  of  freedom,  and  the 
efforts  of  Gregory  and  other  medieval  pontiffs  to  suppress  what  little 
remained  of  it  in  the  emasculated  pages  of  Livy.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Sacred  College  found  it  necessary  to  preserve  many  literary  re- 
mains of  the  Augustan  empire,  for  in  these  only  were  to  be  found  the 
origin  of  its  own  claims  and  prerogatives,  its  title  to  power,  wealth, 
tithes,  privileges,  immunities  and  the  assumption  of  universal  domin- 
ion. Hence  its  three-fold  recension  of  the  law,  and  parade  of  those 
literary  fragments,  which,  having  spared  and  disfigured,  it  embalmed 
for  the  edification  of  mankind. 

But  the  perversion  of  Roman  history  was  not  the  only  literary  oc- 
cupation of  the  College:  it  had  to  deal  with  the  Eddas  and  Sagas  of 
the  Norsemen.  By  devoting  the  whole  of  Saxony  to  the  devouring- 
sword  of  Charlemagne  and  the  cities  of  the  Gothic  Hansa  to  the  flames, 
it  so  weakened  the  power  of  the  Norse  kings  that  they  were  fain  tO' 
admit  those  emissaries  of  Rome,  whom  in  prouder  days  they  had  uni- 
formly forbidden  their  dominions.  The  usual  results  followed.  In 
the  course  of  a  single  century  the  entire  mass  of  Norse  literature  dis- 
appeared from  Scandinavia;  but  as  many  of  the  chieftains  eluded  the 
arts  of  evangelization  and  escaped  to  Iceland,  where  they  set  up  a  re- 
public of  their  own,  it  was  not  until  that  remote  country  was  subdued, 
an  event  deferred  until  the  eleventh  century,  that  the  Roman  govern- 
ment drew  near  the  full  attainment  of  its  sinister  objects.  There  was 
but  one  more  literature  in  the  way :  that  of  the  Eastern  (Roman)  em- 

*  William's  refusal  to  pay  Peter's  pence  and  homage,  occurred  in  1075;  in  1080  Greg- 
ory wrote  him:  "  Bethink  thee  whether  I  must  not  very  diligently  provide  for  thy  sal- 
vation and  whether  for  thine  own  safety  thou  oughtest  not  without  delay  to  obey  me 
so  that  thou  mayest  possess  the  land  of  the  living."  In  excommunicating  Henry  IV. 
the  same  pontiff  claimed  the  right  to  "give  and  take  away  empires,  kingdoms,  prince- 
doms, marquisates,  duchies,  countships  and  the  possessions  of  all  men."  Migne.cxLVii, 
p.  568;  Bryce,  160-1. 


THE    NORMAN    CONQUEST,  1S7 

pire.  Much  of  this  had  already  been  destroyed  or  perverted  by  the 
Byzantines.  Yet  enough  of  it  remained  to  baulk  for  awhile  the  ever 
rising  ambition  of  the  popes.  For  example,  the  duplicate  of  the  Treaty 
made  in  A.  D.  803  at  Seltz,  between  Nicephorus  and  Charlemagne, 
which  defined  the  boundaries  of  the  eastern  and  western  empires  and 
reconciled  the  conflicting  claims  of  these  rival  monarchies,  would  have 
been  an  awkward  document  in  the  hands  of  a  prince  like  Frederick 
II.  Happily  for  the  papacy  it  was  "lost"  in  the  conflagration  and 
sack  of  Constantinople. 

Having  in  this  event  witnessed  the  disappearance  or  annihilation  of 
the  last  scrap  of  parchment  that  could  invalidate  its  claims  to  supreme 
and  universal  dominion,  to  immunities,  privileges,  benefits  and  ad- 
vantages of  every  kind,  it  next  proceeded  to  construct  those  chron- 
icles of  the  various  kingdoms  or  provinces  of  the  empire,  which  it  had 
already  begun,  but  which  the  events  of  this  period  compelled  it  to  re- 
vise. 

Here  is  where  this  vast  design  broke  down.  It  is  not  within  the 
power  of  man  to  fabricate  an  imposture  that  shall  square  with  the 
centuries.  Time  will  only  tally  with  the  truth.  Rome  has  not  been  able 
to  pursue  its  plan  with  the  unity  of  design  essential  to  success.  Its 
apochryphal  chronicles  were  penned  in  different  ages;  and  although 
frequently  remoulded  to  conform  with  altered  circumstances,  they 
failed  to  harmonize  with  one  another  and  were  contradicted  by  those 
fragments  of  the  mutilated  literatures  which  had  been  permitted  to 
survive  and  which  the  art  of  printing  now  fixed  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  public.  The  Sacred  College  was  literally  hoisted  with  its 
own  petard.  The  unwilling  discoveries  of  Father  Platina  in  the  fif- 
teenth, were  followed  by  those  of  Father  Pelligrini  in  the  sixteenth, 
and  Father  Hardouin  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  house  of  cards- 
began  to  tumble;  and  when  that  school  of  modern  criticism  arose 
which  owes  not  its  origin  but  its  immunity  to  the  Reformation,  the 
Roman  system  sustained  a  fatal  perturbation.  The  fabulous  genealo- 
gies of  the  Norse  kings,  which  lend  a  cunning  air  of  vraisemblance 
to  the  monkish  chronicles  of  Britain,  and  which  in  the  course  of  a  few 
generations  deduce  all  those  kings  fromWoden, failed  to  agree  with  the 
discovery  that  Woden  was  only  another  name  for  Buddha,  and  that 
Buddha  was  the  god  of  a  remote  antiquity.  The  idle  tale  of  Hengist 
and  Horsa  was  belied  by  the  numerous  evidences  which  the  earth 
yielded  up  of  a  Norse  occupation  of  Britain  long  anterior  to  the  fifth 
century.  The  chronology  invented  by  the  monks  was  controverted 
by  the  recovery  of  coins  stamped  with  the  names  of  kings  whose  t\~ 


lS8  ANCIKNT    HKITAIN. 

istence  they  had  suppressed  and  whose  reigns  they  had  blottetl  out 
from  history.  The  bretwealdas  when  they  ostentatiously  paraded  in 
the  front  rank  of  their  array  of  heroes,  proved  to  be  mere  puppets, 
whose  ghostly  titles,  awarded  in  Rome,  procured  them  neither  power 
nor  authority  with  their  compeers.  And  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts  to 
efface  from  British  history  the  operations  of  the  Norse  Hansa  and  the 
influence  of  the  Moslem  traders,  enough  evidence  has  remained  to  re- 
store them  both  to  the  records  from  which  they  were  torn. 

But  strangest  of  all  the  evidences  discovered  by  archaeology  and 
criticism  are  those  by  which  the  sinister  government  of  Rome  has 
been  detected  lurking  behind  the  thrones  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
especially  those  whose  occupants, a  doting  pride  of  local  nationality, 
has  hitherto  recognized  as  "sole  monarchs. "  Who  could  have  fore- 
seen that  in  the  rude  mintages  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  Danish,  and  Nor- 
man princes,  were  securely  locked  up  such  proofs  of  hierarchical  su- 
zerainty over  Britain  that  not  the  revival  of  all  the  false  mints  of 
Padua  could  now  efface  them?  Yet  such  is  the  fact.  The  composition 
and  payment  of  Peter's  pence,  the  abstention  from  coining  gold,  the 
peculiar  ratio  between  the  precious  metals,  and  many  other  circum- 
stances in  this  connection,  prove  the  case  beyond  successful  denial. 

There  is  another  monument  of  the  past  which  though  less  palpable 
is  more  convincing  than  coins;  and  this  too  the  pontificate  has  failed 
to  destroy.  Whether  the  Norsemen  derived  it,  as  they  did  many  of 
their  institutes  from  the  Greek  and  Roman  commonwealths,  or  treas- 
ured it  among  the  mysterious  relics  of  a  remoter  sera  of  freedom,  or 
caught  it  from  the  fresh  air  of  the  Scythian  steppes,  or  the  gales  of 
the  Atlantic,  we  know  not;  but  they  preserved  in  their  hearts  a  dread 
and  hatred  of  hierarchical  government  which  no  amount  of  evangeli- 
zation could  destroy.  This  feeling,  which  relates  solely  to  govern- 
ment and  is  wholly  unmixed  with  aversion  for  Catholicism  or  any  other 
form  of  Christianity  as  a  religion^  is  interwoven  not  only  with  their  in- 
stitutes, it  is  embalmed  in  their  dialects;  and  is  as  unsubdued  to-day 
as  it  was  when  a  Roman  keel  first  cleft  the  waters  of  the  Baltic.  Long 
after  the  arms  of  the  Caesars  had  ceased  to  be  formidable,  their  hier- 
archical government  contrived  to  rule  the  world  and  more  than  once, 
after  it  seemed  to  be  overthrown,  it  revived  and  ruled  again.  Nor 
has  its  hopes  of  a  further  revival  so  absolutely  died  away  that  the  Norse 
races  can  afford  to  dispense  with  a  single  token  of  the  past  which  may 
serve  to  invoke  their  ancient  instincts  of  freedom,  or  unite  them  in 
resistance  to  the  insidious  encroachments  of  this  dreadful  power. 


i89 


CHAPTER  XX. 


CONCLUSION. 


WHAT  has  been  proved?  That  the  entire  history  of  Ancient 
Britain  and  Early  England  has  been  mutilated  and  corrupted, 
to  make  good  the  monstrous  claims  of  the  Sacred  College  to  both  its 
temporal  and  spiritual  suzerainty.  God  gave  the  dominion  of  the  earth 
to  Christ,  Christ  to  Peter,  Peter  to  the  Popes,  and  the  Popes  to  the 
Emperors.  Among  the  provinces  of  the  Empire  was  Germany,  which 
ever  remained  faithful  to  its  sovereign.  When  the  barbarians  over- 
threw the  Roman  power  in  Britain,  it  was  reconquered  by  Teutonic 
tribes  from  Germany,  who  were  vassals  of  the  ' '  empire ;  "  hence  Britain 
was  reclaimed  for  the  "empire"  and  belonged  to  it.'  Such  was  the 
theory  and  the  claim  of  the  Church.  The  claim  has  been  abandoned, 
but  the  theory  remains,  and  so  also  does  the  false  history  upon  which 
it  was  erected.  If  this  history  is  allowed  to  stand,  the  theory  must 
be  accepted  and  the  claim  only  remains  in  abeyance.  The  Protest- 
ant Reformation  did  not  attempt  to  undermine  this  logic,  because 
at  that  period  the  archaeological  evidences  had  not  been  discovered 
which  alone  could  subvert  the  history,  or  controvert  the  theory.  The 
Reformation  was  merely  a  protest  against  certain  claims  of  the  Church ; 
and  although  in  the  course  of  its  developement  it  has  gone  much  fur- 
ther and  practically  refused  all  the  claims  of  the  Church,  yet  it  has 
strangely  overlooked  the  importance  of  examining  and  refuting  the 
imposture  upon  which  those  claims  were  based. 

•  "  The  Pope,  who  still  (A. D.  1255)  acted  as  Superior  Lord  of  England,  had  contrib- 
uted very  much  by  the  great  authority  he  possessed  and  the  terror  of  his  spiritual 
thunders,  to  support  Henry  in  all  his  illegal  exactions  and  to  prevent  the  discontented 
barons  from  proceeding  to  extremities.  But  His  Holiness  about  this  time  led  his  royal 
vassal  of  England  \^\.o  an  affair  which  involved  him  in  great  expense  and  trouble  by 
making  him  an  offer  of  the  crown  of  Sicily  for  his  second  son,  prince  Edmond.  The 
Pope  pretended  to  dispose  of  that  crown  both  as  Emperor,  Lord  of  Sicily  and  as  Vicar 
of  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  belonged.  *  *  *  Henry  accepted 
the  offer;  and  his  son  was  styled  King  of  Sicily."  Henry's  Hist.  Brit.,  vii,  22. 


190 


ANCIENT    BRITAIN. 


The  time  has  come  for  such  an  examination.  The  Church  remains, 
(I  do  not  here  allude  to  the  Catholic  religion,  for  which  I  have  the 
greatest  respect,  but  to  the  Roman  Pontificate,  which  is  quite  a  dif- 
ferent thing,)  the  history  remains,  the  theory  remains,  the  claim  re- 
mains; and  there  are  not  wanting  signs  that,  in  one  way  or  another, 
furtively  or  openly,  attempts  will  be  made  to  prosecute  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion. 

What  has  been  proved?  That  the  British  Islands  were  not  con- 
quered by  German  vassals  of  the  empire  in  the  fifth  century,  but  by 
Norse  freemen  before  the  first  century,  that  is  to  say,  before  either 
German  or  Roman  sat  foot  in  them;  that  the  "Anglo-Saxon  con- 
quest" of  the  fifth  century  is  purely  imaginary;  and  that  those  Brit- 
ish institutes  which  are  of  Roman  origin,  were  derived  not  from  the 
Empire,  whether  pagan  or  christian,  but  from  the  earlier  Common- 
wealth. 

The  race  that  conquered  Britain  never  knew  what  it  was  to  have  a 
master;  they  came  from  the  Desert  and  the  Sea;  whose  gales  were 
not  burdened  with  the  sighs  of  Roman  vassalage;  they  never  bent  the 
knee  to  Pontifical  Rome;  they  never  acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of 
the  Church ;  and  they  promptly  rebelled,  whenever  attempts  were  made 
to  force  upon  them  either  the  worship  or  the  spiritual  dominion  of 
Caesar. 

Their  enmities  and  affiliations  prove  their  attitude.  They  refused 
to  worship  Claudius;  they  rebelled  against  Gratian;  they  sat  up  a  re- 
public in  Novgorod;  they  opposed  Charlemagne;  their  trade  was  con- 
fined to  the  Baltic  and  the  Orient,  to  Moslem  Spain  and  to  other 
heretical  states;  and  when  at  length  they  were  duped  and  overcome 
by  the  wiles  and  intrigues  of  the  pontificate,  they  removed  to  Iceland 
and  there  established  another  republic.  The  whole  history  of  this 
people,  from  first  to  last,  is  filled  with  bitter  hatred  of  hierarchical 
government.  This  is  not  an  "Aryan"  sentiment,  nor  a  "Teutonic," 
nor  a  "German"  one;  it  is  purely  and  distinctively  Gothic.  It  is  not 
the  prejudice  of  a  people  who  accepted  the  Roman  government,who 
anointed  their  sacred  sovereigns,  and  still  affectionately  term  their 
king,  a  kaiser;  it  was  the  prejudice  of  tribes  long  accustomed  to  lib- 
erty and  whose  knungs  were  merely  military  chieftains,  many  of  whom 
were  sacrificed  to  popular  superstition  or  resentment. 

The  ever  increasing  problems  of  modern  society  demand  for  their 
solution  the  advantages  of  actual  experience;  the  experience  of  legis- 
lation, of  administration,  of  execution;  and  we  cannot  afford  to  omit 
from  this  experience  the  valuable  lessons  which  were  garnered  by  the 


CONCLUSION. 


191 


Roman  Commonwealth  and  preserved  by  the  Gothic  states  of  the 
Medieval  Ages.  If  we  ascend  beyond  the  Norman  dynasty,  where 
shall  we  find  such  experience?  Shall  we  seek  for  it  in  the  false  chron- 
icles of  the  monks,  in  the  corrupted  texts  which  have  been  transmit- 
ted to  us  from  antiquity,  or  in  the  traditions  and  legends  of  the  Sacred 
College?  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  written  records  of  the 
past  were  for  twelve  centuries  in  the  keeping  of  men  who  saw  in  them 
only  the  instruments  of  their  own  elevation  and  who  never  hesitated 
to  mould  them  to  their  amibitious  theory  of  government.  These  rec- 
ords must  therefore  be  rewritten;  and  although  the  paucity  of  mate- 
rials may  render  incomplete  or  unsatisfactory  all  present  efforts  to 
restore  the  entire  truth,  the  dignity  of  the  subject  and  value  of  the 
achievement  will  doubtless  stimulate  others  and  still  others  to  the 
task,  until  it  is  successfully  and  completely  accomplished. 


193 


APPENDIX  A. 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    BRITISH    TRIBES. 


IN  A.U.  776  the  Cheruscans,  a  coast  tribe  who  were  settled  between 
the  Elbe  and  Weser,the  Semnones, another  coast  tribe, a  branch  of 
the  Suevi,  settled  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder,  and,  the  Longo- 
bards,  (all  these  were  Gothic  or  Semi-Gothic  tribes,)  terminated  their 
alliance  with  the  Germans  under  Maroboduus  and  made  war  upon  the 
said  Germans,  whom  they  defeated  and  drove  into  the  Hercynian  for- 
est. "The  name  of  king  wasdetestedby  the  Suevians  "and  "Arminius 
was  the  champion  of  liberty"  explains  Tacitus,  but  the  explanation 
is  insufficient.  Maroboduus,  upon  his  defeat,  sent  to  Rome,his  suzerain 
power,  for  succour,  whereupon  Tiberius  sent  his  son  Drusus  with  an 
armed  force  into  Illyria  (the  country  of  the  Veneti),  "to  secure  the 
frontiers  (of  Rome)  from  the  incursions  of  the  enemy. "  What  enemy? 
As  the  Germans  were  at  that  time  the  ' '  allies, "  or  vassals,  of  Rome, 
there  can  be  but  one  answer  to  this  question.  The  enemy  was  the 
race  to  which  both  Suevians  and  Veneti  belonged,  the  Sacae  or  Goths 
of  the  Euxine  and  Baltic,  the  "  Gothones  "  of  Tacitus,  to  whom  Cat- 
ualda  fled  for  refuge  from  the  tyranny  of  Maroboduus  and  who  hav- 
ing defeated  the  latter  compelled  him  to  fly  to  Rome,  where  he  ended 
his  days  in  obscurity.   Tacitus,  Ann.,  i,  46,  62;  Germania,  42. 

The  immediate  followers  of  Maroboduus  were  called  Marcomanni, 
whom  Gibbon  i,  315,  calls  "a  Suevic  tribe,  which  was  often  con- 
founded with  the  Alemanni  (Germans)  in  their  wars  and  conquests." 
When  the  emperor  Marcus  Antoninus  defeated  the  Germans  he  found 
the  Marcomanni  still  in  their  service  and  shipped  them  off  to  Britain. 
Dion  Cassius,  71-2.  The  emperor  Gallienus  married  a  daughter  of 
this  race  named  Pipa. 

In  the  first  century  of  our  a^ra  the  Angrivarians  were  driven  to  Brit- 
ain. Tacitus,  Ann.,  11,  24.  In  the  second  century  Ptolemy  places  the 
Chauci,  a  Saxon  tribe,  in  the  southeast  of  Ireland.    Geog. ,  11,  2.    In 


194  ANCIEN'J'     liRITAIN. 

the  third  century  Carausius,  a  Menapian,  brought  many  of  his  coun- 
trymen into  Britain.  Kemble's  Saxons  in  England,  ed.  1876,  i,  12. 
The  "Saxon  Shore"  extended  from  Portsmouth  to  Wells  in  Norfolk. 
This  "  Littus  Saxonicum  per  Britannius  was  unquestionably  that  dis- 
trict in  which  members  of  the  Saxon  confederacy  were  settled. "  Kem- 
ble,  I,  14.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  Notitia  Imperii,  a  document  that 
dates  from  A.D.  390  to  400,  but  which  must  have  been  compiled  much 
earlier.   Kemble,  i,  10,  13  note. 

All  these  allusions  to  the  presence  of  Goths  and  Saxons  in  Britain 
are  from  Roman  writings  previous  to  the  alleged  invasion  of  the  fifth 
century,  in  respect  of  which  Kemble  furnishes  the  following  remarks: 
"  Bede's  narrative  is  apochryphal.  .  .  I  do  not  think  it  at  all  prob- 
able that  this  (the  fifth  century)  was  the  earliest  period  at  which  the 
Germans  (meaning  the  Saxons)  formed  settlements  in  England.  .  . 
There  seems  to  be  every  probability  that  .  .  .  Saxons  and  Angles  had 
colonized  the  eastern  shore  of  England  long  before  the  time  gener- 
ally assigned  for  their  advent.  .  .  The  received  account  of  our  (An- 
glo-Saxon) migration,oursubsequentfortunesand  ultimate  settlement 
are  devoid  of  historical  truth  in  every  detail.  The  tale  of  Hengist 
and  Horsa  conquering  England  with  three  ships  is  found  in  the  Gothic 
legend  of  the  three  shiploads  of  Goths  and  Gepidae  who  landed  at  the 
mouths  of  the  Vistula;  the  murder  of  the  British  chieftains  by  Hen- 
gist  is  told  by  Widnkind  of  the  Saxons  inThuringia;  while  the  story 
of  measuring  the  conquered  land  with  an  oxhide  cut  into  thongs  is 
found  in  the  myths  of  many  nations." 

Lappenberg  also  shows  that  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion 
and  settlement  is  mythical.  All  the  dates  are  calculated  upon  the  sacred 
number  8.  Thus  the  periods  of  24,  16,  8  and  especially  40  years,  are 
met  with  at  every  turn. 

In  the  Traveller's  Song  in  Beowulf  and  other  early  Anglo-Saxon 
poems  we  find  many  personal  names  which  have  attached  themselves 
to  places.  The  Herelingas  or  Harlings,  left  their  name  in  Harlingen, 
Friesland;  the  Swsefus  (Angles),  at  Swaffham;  the  Brentings,  at  Bren- 
tingham;  the  Scyldings  and  Scylfings,  at  Skelding  and  Shilvington: 
the  Ardings,  in  Ardingly,  Ardington  and  Ardingworth.  These  were 
the  Azdingi,  the  royal  race  of  Visigoths  and  Vandals;  a  name  which 
confirms  the  tradition  of  a  settlement  of  Vandals  in  England.  (See 
Zeuss,  pp.  73,  74  and  461.)  The  Heardingas  left  their  name  to  Hard- 
ingham  in  Norfolk;  the  Bannings,  in  Banningham;  the  Helsings,  in 
Helsington  and  Helsingland  (Sweden), and  so  on  with  nearly  a  thous- 
and others,  which  Kemble  gives  in  an  Appendix  to  his  work.     The 


APPENDIX    n 


195 


Totingas,  a  Saxon  tribe,  left  their  name  to  T6tinga-ham,in  the  county 
of  Boulogne,  and  to  Tooting,  in  Surrey.   Kemble,  i,  10. 

The  Persians  (of  the  Roman  period)  called  the  Scythians,  Saces; 
the  ancients  called  them  Arameens.  The  Massagetae,  the  Histi  (lesti), 
the  Essedones,  the  Arimaspes,  and  others,  were  all  Scythians  and  of 
■one  race.  They  traded  with  the  Orient  by  way  of  the  Oxus,  Caspian 
and  Euxine.    Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  vi,  xix,  i. 

The  use  of  coined  money  was  well  known  to  the  Phoenicians,  the 
Greeks,  and  the  Carthaginians;  and  had  these  nations  found  none  in 
Britain  they  would  scarcely  have  failed  to  communicate  so  useful  an 
invention  to  a  country  with  which  they  held  such  valuable  and  long 
■continued  intercourse.  The  Phoenicians  had  bronze  and  brass  to  sell ; 
the  Greeks,  silver;  and  the  Carthaginians,  gold;  and  these  nations 
would  not  have  omitted  to  enhance  the  value  of  their  respective  sta- 
ple commodities  by  indicating  the  various  uses  to  which  they  might 
be  put.   Among  these  was  money. 

The  Gauls  were  of  the  same  race,  and  spoke  the  same  language  as 
some  of  the  southern  Britons.  The  former  used  coined  money  several 
centuries  before  our  sera.  The  art  of  making  and  using  it  must  there- 
fore have  been  known  to  their  insular  brethren.  Thus  there  were  two 
species  of  money  current  in  Britain  before  the  Roman  period,  the 
baugs  of  the  Norsemen  and  the  coins  of  the  Gaels.  Both  of  them  are 
mentioned  by  Caesar  and  numerous  specimens  of  both  species  are  pre- 
served in  our  cabinets.  Nothing  so  strikingly  marks  the  difference 
between  the  Goths  and  the  Teutons  and  Gaels  as  these  mute  but  elo- 
quent memorials  of  the  past.  The  Norsemen  used  baugs;  the  Gaels 
and  Teutons  used  coins. 

APPENDIX    B. 

THE    CODEX    ARGENTEUS. 

■"  T    TLFILAS,  bishop  of  the  Goths,"  is  mentioned  in  the  ecclesias- 

V_J    tical  histories  of  Socrates,  Sozomen  and  Theodoret.*  "Bishop" 

was  the  common  name  applied  at  that  time  to  any  ecclesiastical  leader, 

christian  or  pagan.      For  example,  the  worshippers  of  Serapis  had 

'  Socrates,  11,  41;  Sozomen,  vi,  37;  Theodoret,  iv,  37.  Ulfilas  is  also  mentioned 
in  the  epitome  of  Philostorgius,  prepared  by  Photius  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
A.D.  853.  Photius  calls  him  Urfilas,  the  son  of  a  Cappadocian  prisoner  to  the  Goths, 
and  an  Arian.  He  places  him  in  the  reign  of  Constantine  I.,  and  says  that  he  "  trans- 
lated "  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  but  does  not  say  from  or  into  what  lan- 
guage. 


196  ANCIENT    IJRITAIN. 

bishops.  The  assertion  that  there  was  an  "  Ulfilas,  bishop  of  the 
Goths,"  does  not  prove  him  a  christian.  Sozomen  goes  farther  than 
this,  he  says  that  during  the  reign  of  Valens,the  Huns  of  the  Caspian 
drove  the  Goths  of  Moesia  into  the  Roman  territory  of  Thrace,  when 
the  latter  sent  an  agent  (A,  D.  378),  to  Valens,  asking  permission  for 
them  to  remain  where  they  were,  a  request  to  which  the  emperor  gra- 
ciously assented.  As  the  "Goths  of  Moesia "  had  occupied  that  prov- 
ince and  the  adjoining  one  of  Thracia  for  upwards  of  seven  hundred 
years, this  part  of  the  narrative  is  evidently  perverted.  "  Ulfilas,  the 
bishop  of  the  nation,  was  the  chief  of  the  embassy."  Sozomen  goes 
on  to  say  that  Ulfilas  had  previously  (A.  D.  359)  attended  the  coun- 
cil of  Arian  christian  bishops  at  Constantinople,  ' '  with  Eudo.xius  and 
Acacius. "  As  Acacius  was  in  fact  not  made  bishop  till  many  years 
later,  this  part  of  the  narrative  is  also  wrong.  Sozomen  continues 
that  Ulfilas,  in  pursuance  of  his  mission  (of  378)  repaired  to  Constan- 
tinople and  "  entered  into  disputations  on  doctrinal  topics  with  the 
chiefs  of  the  Arian  faction,  and  they  promised  to  lay  his  requests  (pre- 
sumably about  a  residence  for  the  Goths),  before  the  emperor,  and 
to  forward  the  objects  of  his  embassy,  if  he  would  conform  to  their 
views."  What  these  views  were,  we  are  not  informed.  Whether  this 
account  is  true  or  false,  it  does  not  as  yet  assert  that  Ulfilas  was  a 
christian.  However,  what  comes  next  is  more  to  the  point:  "Ulfilas 
exposed  himself  to  innumerable  perils  in  defence  of  the  faith  during 
the  period  that  the  aforesaid  barbarians  were  abandoned  to  paganism. 
He  taught  them  the  use  of  letters  and  translated  the  Sacred  scrip- 
tures into  their  own  language."  What  faith:  the  Dionysian?  What 
letters:  the  Runic,  the  Greek,  or  the  Latin?  What  Sacred  scriptures: 
the  Sibylline  books,  the  Theogony  of  Hesiod,  the  yEneid  of  Virgil, 
the  legends  of  les  Chrishna,  or  the  gospels  of  Christ? 

These  questions  were  attempted  to  be  answered  by  the  monks  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  who  claimed  to  have  discovered  in  the  mon- 
astery of  Werden,  county  of  Mark,  in  Westphalia,  (near  Cologne,)  a 
mutilated  version  of  the  gospels,  in  corrupt  Gothic,  the  letters  of 
which  were  formed  of  silver  (hence  its  name,  the  Codex  Argenteus,) 
and  the  initials  of  gold.  The  work  thus  providentially  discovered 
was  recognized  by  them  as  the  translation  of  ' '  Eufilas, "  bishop  of  the 
Goths,  in  the  fourth  century.  It  was  pretended  by  John  Geo.  Wach- 
ter,  on  behalf  of  the  alleged  discoverers,  that  the  ms.  had  probably 
been  captured  either  by  Clovis  from  Alaric  II.  at  Toulouse,  in  507, 
or  by  Childebert  from  Amalaric,  in  531,  and,  by  one  of  these  mon- 
archs,  deposited  in  the  abbey  of  Werden;  but  no  proofs  worthy  of  a 


APPENDIX    B.  197 

moment's  consideration  were  offered  in  support  of  these  strange  pre- 
tensions.'' 

Before  pursuing  the  narrative  of  this  holy  relic  it  will  be  as  well  to 
examine  the  credentials  of  the  earliest  witness,  upon  whose  testimony 
its  pretended  authorship  rests.  These  credentials  are  drawn  not  from 
his  enemies  but  his  friends,  those  whom  both  inclination  and  interest 
prompted  to  give  to  the  world  the  most  favourable  account  of  his 
work.  Says  his  translator,  Mr.  Edward  Halford,  M.  A.,  late  scholar 
of  Balliol  College,  Oxford:  "  The  ecclesiastical  History  of  Sozomen 
seems  to  have  been  commenced  about  the  year  443.  It  is  generally 
admitted  to  have  suffered  many  alterations  and  mutilations,  and  this 
may  in  some  measure  serve  to  account  for  the  frequent  inaccuracies 
in  point  both  of  narrative  and  of  chronology,  which  pervade  the  nine 
books  of  which  it  is  composed.  It  is  evident  from  the  very  abrupt 
termination  of  this  history  that  it  is  but  a  fragmentary  portion  of  a 
larger  work."  '  So  much  for  the  testimony  of  Sozomen:  it  has  been 
altered  and  mutilated ;  it  is  inaccurate ;  it  is  fragmentary.  Is  it  worth 
while  to  consider  it  any  farther? 

Upon  its  "discovery  "  at  Werden  the  Codex  Argenteus  was  taken  to 
Prague,  where,  at  a  later  period,  it  was  captured  by  the  forces  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus  and  sent  to  Stockholm.  After  lying  for  some  time  in 
the  library  of  Queen  Christina,  it  suddenly  disappeared,  and  is  said  to 
have  turned  up  again  in  Holland  during  the  year  1665.  But  there  is 
no  certainty  that  what  turned  up  was  the  original.  In  1669  it  was  pur- 
chased by  Magnus  Gabriel  de  la  Gardie  for  600  thalers,  and  presented 
to  the  University  of  Upsal,  where  it  remained  until  1 702,  when  it  was 
lost  by  fire.  However,  before  this  occurred,  it  was  copied  and  pub- 
lished, so  that  we  have,  what  is  said  to  be,  a  correct  copy  of  it  at  the 
present  time.  Of  the  truth  of  this  statement  the  reader  may  be  able 
to  judge  for  himself  as  we  proceed.  The  title  of  the  first  edition  ap- 
pears in  the  Bibliography  prefixed  to  the  present  volume.  The  second 
•edition  was  published  in  167 1,  at  Stockholm,  and  many  editions  have 
since  appeared. 

Like  all  the  literary  evidences  touching  religion,  which  have  been 
preserved  or  prepared  for  the  edification  of  posterity,  this  one  has 
evidently  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  Sacred  College  of  Rome 
and  has  been  subjected  to  the  studied  revision  of  the  subtlest  agents 
whose  services  that  institution  could  command.  Therefore  the  proofs 
of  its  perversion  (if  it  be  perverted)  must  not  be  expected  to  lie  upon 
the  surface.   Briefly  recounted,  they  are  as  follows: 

^  Wachter,  lib.,  iii,  c.  10.  ^  Preface  to  8vo.  ed.  1S55,  p.  6. 


1^8  ANCIKNT    liRlTAIN. 

I. — The  Codex  Argenteus  has  neither  date  nor  signature;  always 
grounds  of  grave  suspieion  in  relation  to  any  document. 

II. — The  margin  of  the  burnt  vellum  contained  various  readings,  a 
proof  that  this  copy  was  prepared  at  a  later  period  than  that  assigned 
to  Ulfilas. 

III. — A  portion  of  the  Codex,  as  at  present  printed,  was  taken  in 
1763  from  some  scattered  leaves  of  vellum  which  it  is  alleged  once 
formed  part  of  the  gospels  with  a  "Gothic"  translation,  of  the  ninth 
century,  found  in  the  library  of  Wolfenbiittel,  duchy  of  Brunswick, 
This  is  called  the  Carolinus. 

IV. — Both  the  original  story,  the  circumstances  attending  the  dis- 
covery of  the  vellum,  and  the  internal  marks,  betray  for  this  copy  a 
medieval,  German,  monastic,  paternity.  Ulfilas  is  neither  a  Gothic 
nor  a  Cappadocian  name.  Both  the  Codex  Argenteus  and  the  Codex 
Carolinus  were  found  in  a  part  of  Germany,  where  there  had  been  nO' 
Goths  since  the  days  of  Charles  Martel.  No  other  manuscript  exists 
containing  similar  letters,  many  of  which  are  a  mixture  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  the  same  as  were  employed  in  Italy  during  the  medieval  ages.'' 

V. — The  runic  alphabet  contained  sixteen  letters;  that  of  the  Codex 
contains  twenty-five  and  they  are  very  unlike  runes."  Upon  closer 
examination,  the  letters  of  the  Codex  (which  were  all  capitals)  ap- 
peared ' '  not  to  have  been  written  with  a  pen,  but  stamped  or  printed 
on  the  vellum,  with  hot  metal  types,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  book- 
binders at  present  letter  the  backs  of  books. "  Except  that  in  the  case 
of  the  Codex  each  letter  was  * '  stamped  separately  "  we  have  here  the 
invention  of  printing  with  moveable  types.  This  may  be  an  Indian 
invention  brought  by  the  Goths  from  the  East,  but  it  was  certainly 
unknown  in  the  West.®  From  the  outset  of  their  intercourse  with  the 
Goths  the  Roman  monks  opposed  the  use  of  runic  letters  "as  tend- 
ing to  retain  the  people  in  their  ancient  superstitions. " '  In  connection 
with  the  present  subject  this  policy  assumes  a  profound  significance. 
The  language  of  the  Codex  is  more  German  than  Gothic,  approach- 
ing nearest  to  the  present  dialect  of  Thuringen.  The  grammar  of  the 
language  of  the  Codex  Argenteus  is  German,  which  has  an  article, 
whilst  the  Gothic  denotes  the  article  by  the  termination.  The  infini- 
tives are  frequently  formed  by  prefixing  ga,  as  galaikan,  gatairan,  etc. , 
like  the  Thuringian  idiom,  in  gervicha,  gervichen,  etc.  The  Suabian 
monk,  Otfrid,  wrote  a  variety  of  works,  among  them  what  is  called 

^  As  proved  by  an  Arrezzan  conveyance  in  the  Inscriptiones  Antiqufeof  J.  Baptista 
Domius.  Florence,  1731,  p.  496. 

*  Mallet,  225-32.         ^  Mallet,  225;  Dom.  Johan  Ihre,  etc.  ''  Mallet,  22S. 


APPENDIX    B. 


199 


a  paraphrase  of  the  gospels  in  Allemanian  rhyme,  about  A.  D.  876, 
and  he  opened  a  school  of  Uterature  in  the  abbey  of  Weissenburg,  in 
Alsace,  where  this  copy  of  the  Codex  Argenteus  is  as  likely  to  have 
been  prepared  as  in  a  Gothic  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 
I'he  ninth  century  also  produced  the  Ludwigslied,  which  celebrates 
a  victory  over  the  Goths,  and  suggests  the  preparation  of  just  such 
a  work  as  the  Codex  Argenteus,  with  which  to  convert  the  newly  con- 
quered heathen.  In  a  treatise  on  the  Ceremonies  of  the  Byzantine 
Court,  written  by  the  emperor  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus,  during 
the  tenth  century,  are  two  catalogues  of  Gothic  words  used  at  the 
same  time  in  Moesia  and  Thracia;  yet  none  of  them  bear  any  resem- 
blance to  the  language  of  the  Codex  Argenteus,  which,  therefore, 
concludes  Mosheim,  is  not  Gothic.  If  not  Gothic,  he  leaves  it  to  be 
inferred  that  it  is  a  forgery.  In  coming  to  this  conclusion  the  emi- 
nent commentator  saw  no  middle  ground  between  accepting  the  Co- 
dex as  a  Gothic  translation  of  the  Greek  gospels  and  an  imposture. 
But  suppose  that  instead  of  an  imposture  it  was  merely  a  perversion; 
suppose  that  instead  of  being  a  translation  of  the  Greek  gospels  it  was 
really  the  original  text  from  which  our  (Greek)  gospels  themselves 
were  translated  and  altered;  what  then? 

APPENDIX   C. 

ROMAN   WALLS   IN    BRJ-^AIN. 

ROUTE,  CALLED. 

Tyne  to  Solway,  Inner. 

Forth  to  Clyde,  Outer, 

Tyne  to  Solway,  Inner, 

Forth  to  Clyde,  Outer, 

Tyne  to  Solway,  Inner. 

The  Outer  Wall — which  was  originally  built  by  Agricola  and  after- 
wards repaired,  enlarged,  and  strengthened  by  Lollius  Urbicus,  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  the  emperor  Antoninus  Pius — was  also  called  the 
"Vallum  Antonini  and,  in  modern  days,  Graham's  Dyke.  The  Inner 
Wall — built  by  Agricola,  and  enlarged  and  strengthened  by  Hadrian 
— was  called  the  Vallum  Hadriani. 


A.R  A.D. 

BUILT  BY. 

78 

Agricola, 

80 

Agricola, 

120 

Hadrian, 

140 

Antoninus, 

210 

Sept.  Severus, 

201 


INDEX. 


Aarlesden,  amt  Fyen,  170. 

Accounts,  publication  of,  103. 

Aira,  85. 

vEsclepiadus,  24,  51. 

Agricola,  pro-consul  in  Brit.,  34,  37. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  city,  137,  147. 

Alaric,  65,  82,  134. 

Albans,  St.,  (see  Camulodunum.) 

Albigenses,  105,  146. 

Albion,  12. 

Albinus,  usurper,  42. 

Aldermen,  157. 

Alemanni,  56,  57,  141,  156W. 

Alfonso  el  Sabio,  86. 

Alfred  the  Gt.,  86,  91,  143,  179,  182. 

AUectus,  50. 

Amalfi,  86,  83. 

Amber,  3,  130. 

America,  25,  142,  146. 

Anderida,  city,  67,  69. 

Angles,  a  Gothic  tribe,  53,  135,  138. 

Anglo-Saxon  invasion,  55,  190. 

Antiquarian  discoveries,  10. 

Antoninus,  Wall  of,  ign. 

Apollonia,  48. 

Appius  Claudius,  102. 

Arabians,  75.  146. 

Arcadius,  sov.-pont.,  65. 

Arians,  57,  140. 

Aristotle,  2,  105. 

Aries,  46,  82. 

Arnoul,  bishop  of  Metz,  146. 

Art,  decadence  of,  29,  164. 

Assemblage,  right  of,  14. 

Assessors,  iii. 

Astronomy,  24. 

Athelstan,  161,  184M. 

Attila,  the  Hun,  67,  143. 

Augusti,  49,  59. 

Augustine,  St.,  53,  60,  133. 

Augustini,  or  Augustines,  132. 

Augustus,  sov.-pont.,  21,23,27,29,69,79, 

82«.,  83, 86;/.,  94;/.,  106, 1 1,1, 1 77. 
Aulus  Plautius,  34. 
Aurea  Legenda,  92. 
Avars  (see  Huns.) 
Aventine,  Mt.,  99. 

Bacchus,  55«.,  56,  60,  74,  loi,  113. 
Bagaudie,  50. 
Baikal  lake,  4,  5. 


Bangles  (se^  Bangs). 

Banks,  Bankers,  Roman,  23. 

Barbarian  Invasions,  55,  66,  69,  126. 

Bardewick,  147,  151. 

Barter,  120. 

Bath,  city,  35. 

I^augs,  10,  168. 

Bede,  10,  71,  137,  181,  194. 

Beer,  21. 

Benefices,  18,  63,  184. 

Bergen,  Roman  voyages  to,  25. 

Bishops,  pagan,  23,  195. 

Blodorns,  169. 

Boadicea,  queen,  29,  34,  35,  48. 

Bombacine,  a  textile  fabric,  21. 

Booksellers,  104. 

Boulogne  (lesoriacum)  19,  21,  24. 

Bowline,  sailing  on  a,  24. 

Brahma,  Brahminism,  28,  32,  94. 

Bretagne  in  France,  2. 

Bretwealdas  of  the  Heptarchy,  175,  188. 

Breweries,  21. 

Bridges,  19. 

Britain,  origin  of  the  name,  i. 

,  circumnavigation  of,  38. 

,  discovery  of,  3. 

,  history  of,  17. 

,  introduction  of  Christianity,q.  v. 

, conquest  by  Hengist  &  Horsa,q.v, 

Britons,  extinction  of  the  Gaelic,  38,  39. 

Brittany,  in  France,  2. 

Brittia,  or  Jutland,  2,  8. 

Brittones,  2,  3. 

Bronze  Money,  21,22,23,118,123. 

Brunansburg,  battle,  162. 

Buddha,  Buddhism,  5,  13,  28,  32,56«.,74, 

91,101,113,129,158,187. 
Burgundy,  67. 
Byzantium,  153. 

Cadastre,  157. 

Caius  Flavins,  curule  sedile,  27«. 

Caledonia,  Caledonians,  38,  40. 

Calendar,  27W.,  85. 

Camulodunum,  36. 

Candles,  in  Roman  mines,  21. 

Canon  law,  27^.,  87,  lor. 

Cantyre,  straits  of,  11. 

Caracalla,  sov.-pont.,  45. 

Carausius,  emp.,  50,  72,  178. 

Carthage,  Carthaginians,  2,  48. 


INDEX, 


Cassians,  school  of  jurisconsults,  So. 

Castles,  42. 

Census  {ser  also  Cadastre).  157. 

Ceylon,  Roman  voyages  to,  25. 

Chagan,  147. 

Chalk  merchants,  23. 

Chalybia,  12S. 

Charlemagne,  32,  86,  136,  143,  146,  147, 

149,151,152,167,183,186,187,190. 
Charles  Martel,  q.  v. 
Chickens,  Sacred,  loi,  103, 
Christian  monogram,  31. 
Christianity,  30,  31,  51,  59,  63,  84,85,147. 

,  evolution  of,  33«.,  57,  77,  147. 

,  its  characteristics,  32,  78,  147. 

Christmas,  146. 

Christnalas,  I57«. 

Cimbria,  Cimbrians,  140. 

Cirencester,  68. 

Civil  law,  78,  loi. 

Claudius,  sov.-pont.,  i,  12,34,35,72,190. 

Cloth  money  (si'e  Vadmal). 

Clovis,  k.  Franks,  85,  145. 

Coal  mines,  Roman,  i8m. 

Cockney  dialect,  7. 

Codes  of  Law,  81. 

Codex  Argenteus,  155,  159M.,  196. 

Cogidanus,  17,  35. 

Coins,  bronze,  q.  v. 

,  iron,  silver-plated,  42. 

,  historical,  104,180,185. 

,  Moslem,  153. 

,  gold,  185. 

Colchester,  city,  36. 

Colonial  policy,  Roman,  22. 

Comitia,  Roman,  27,  78. 

Commerce,  foreign,  21. 

Commodus,  sov.-pont.,  42,  43, 

Common  law,  88. 

Commons,  House  of,  89,94,101,106,114. 

Constantine  I.,  sov.-pont.,  51. 

Constantinople,  52,  185. 

,  Fall  of,  23,92,93,187. 

Copper  coins,  mines,  minting,  18,  20. 

Corn  trade,  22. 

Cortes,  92«. 

Coster,  or  wild  apple,  17. 

Councils,  90. 

Cramond  (Alaterva),  19. 

Crimes  against  Mankind,  1 18. 

Cross,  symbol  of  the,  5,3i,32,33«. 

Curia  Regis,  92,  iii. 

Dagobert,  k.  Merovingian  Franks,  85. 
Dale,  7. 
Danegeld,  44. 
Decadence  of  Rome,  30. 
Decemviri,  the,  100. 
Dicasts  {see  Jury). 
Diocletian,  sov.-pont.,  46,  49. 
Dionysius  Exiguus,  85. 


Doctors,  Romano-I'.ritish,  24. 

Drainage  f)f  farm  lands,  20. 

Druids,  Druidism,  8,9,  38,  54,  I45,i7i«., 

iS4«. 
Duke,  a  title  of  nobility,  185. 
Dykes,  i  7,  20. 

Karth  (.*■(<•  Sphericity). 
l--cclcsiastical  law  {.<t-e  Canon) 
Edward,  Elder,  175. 

III.,  k.  England,  93. 

Egyptian  chronology,  168. 
Elagabalus,  sov.-pont.,  5. 
Ella,  k.  Sussex,  134,  176. 
Emperor-worship,  13,  25,  27,  29,3i,40«., 

43,5o,55,59/jf).77,io6. 
England  (see  Britain). 
Epictetus,  123. 
Ethelbert,  85,  145. 
Eugenius,  sov.-pont.,  63. 
Evolution,  religious,  33,  77. 
Exposure  of  children,  158. 

Feuds,  feudalism,  feudal  system,  9,  17, 

18,  28. 
Fine  arts,  23. 
fiord,  17. 
Fish-money,  168. 
Fisheries,  19,  162. 
Fleets,  naval,  19,  143. 
Forgeries,  10,  73,  86«.,  87,  104,  155,  187, 

189,  197- 
Frakki  {see  Franks). 
Franks,  14,47,140,147. 
Frauds  {see  Statute). 
Frederick  Barbarosa,  152. 
Erica,  Mother  of  God,  139,  I59«. 
Frisia,  Frisians,  i,  2. 
Fylkis,  Gothic  communes,  155. 
Gaels,  8,  195. 
G£eta^,  or  Getre,  6,  47. 
Gains,  Institutes,  82,  84. 
Gan-Esa,  Hindu  messiah,  6. 
Gardariki,  Gothic  province,  132,  152. 
Gentes  coins,  123. 
Germania  of  Tacitus,  11,135,142. 
Germans.  Germany  {see  Alemanni)  130, 

135,139.141. 143. M7- 
Germanicus,  Roman  title,  11. 
Getse  {see  Goths). 
Gildas,  71,  137. 
Glass,  18,  20,  22. 
Godfrey,  137. 
Gold,  18,20,22,23,118,185. 
Gospels,  suggested  originals  of  the,  198. 
Gotama,  129. 
Gothic  Uprisings,  3,  13,  17,  52,  58,60,75, 

133.  174. 
Goths,  10,13,45,52,126,135,139,140,143, 

153,154,166. 
Government,  Roman,  26,  28. 


INDEX. 


203 


Government,  Gothic,  154. 
■Graham's  Dyke,  15. 
Grape  vines  {si-e  Wines). 
Gratian,  sov.-pont.,  57,190. 

,  ecclesiastic,  87. 

Greek  literature,  104M. 
Gregory  I.,  pope,  32,  70,  86«. 

VI.,  pope,  Sjn. 

Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  137. 
Gunnarsbaug  ship  find,  165. 

Habeas  Corpus,  writ,  117. 

Hadrian,  sov.-pont.,  19,25,39. 

Halcyon  Ages,  106,  123. 

Halgaland,  131,139, 

Han,  Hansa,  Hanseatic,  149M.,  186. 

Hardouin,  Father,  187. 

Hengist  and  Horsa,  2,  53,64,71,143,187, 

194. 
Henry  Lion, duke  of  Saxony, 148, 149, 152. 
Heptarchy,  43. 

Herads,  Gothic  communes,  155. 
Herod,  35. 
Hertha  (see  Frica). 
Hesta-things  (see  Horse). 
Hesus,  56,56w.,i45. 
Hidalgo,  I44«. 

Hierarchies,  13, 16, 114,115,156,183,188. 
Highways  in  Britain,  19,37,51. 
Hincmar,  bishop,  86. 
Hirsars,  a  Gothic  class,  157. 
History,  the  dignity  of,  16,  138, 180,  187, 

191. 
Honorius,  sov.-pont.,  65. 
Horse  feasts,  sacrifices,  etc.,  158,163. 
Horse  tribes  of  the  Sac£e,  128. 
Human  sacrifices,  6,  131, 160. 
Huns;  Hungary,  5?i.,  67,75,147,149,195. 
Husthings,  155. 
Hyksos,  168. 
Hypocausts,  20. 

Iceland,  5,  190. 

les;  lesaca;  sun-god,  129,  131. 

lesini,  12,  29,  34,  35. 

lesnu,  or  Vishnu,  Hindu  messiah,  33W., 

i6o«. 
Image-worship,  25,  29. 
Ina,  k.  Wessex,  40«. 
Indo-Germanic  theory,  154. 
Industrial  classes,  Rom. -Brit.,  22. 
Ingcevones,  135,  154. 
Inquisition,  Si. 
Insurance,  marine,  37. 
Ireland,  39,  72. 
Iron,  18,  20. 
Iron-clad  ships,  162. 
Ivan  Vidfami,  67,133,152. 

Japan;  Japanese,  172. 
Jasius,  4. 


Jesuits,  106. 

Jesus  Christ,  71,  120. 

Jetland  islands,  loti.,  11. 

Jews,  29,  32,  14S. 

John,  k.  England,  93. 

Jovinus,  revolt  in  Gaul,  56,  67. 

Julian,  sov.-pont.,  22,  56. 

Julin,  city,  150. 

Julius  Csesar,  9, 12, 27, 72, 79, 82«., 83, 104, 

107, 1 1 1 , 1 39, 1 70, 1 77, 1 80. 
Jurisprudence  (see  Codes  and  Law). 
Juridical  system,  Roman,  23. 
Jury,  trial  by,  14,81,98,108. 
Justinian,  sov.-pont.,  82. 
Jutes,  141. 

Kangie,  refuse  heaps  of,  18. 
Kinchester,  68. 
King  (see  Kung). 
Kingiktorsoak,  monument,  25?z. 
Kung,  or  Knung,  156. 

Labeo,  jurisconsult,  87. 

Land  Tenures,  28,  60. 

Language,  Roman,  Gothic,  etc.,  26,  2tn,y 

159- 
Law,  laws,  23,26,80,87. 
Lawyers,  Law  school,  24,  80,81,86,87. 
Lead,  Romano-British  pigs  of,  36. 
Legal-tender,  123. 
Legatus  Augustus,  18,24. 
Legislatures,  93,104,106. 
Lex  Romana,  82. 
Liber  Pater  (see  Bacchus). 
Liberty,  78,  80,  83,  92,  106, 108, 112,114, 

118,123,127,134,164,188. 
Light-houses,  19. 
Lincoln,  city,  68. 
Literature,  104,105,186. 
London,  5, 8, 8«., 38, 41, 48, 51,67. 
London,  Sack  of,  34;  Stone,  51. 
Lothaire  I.,  emperor  of  Germany,  147. 

Lothaire  II., ,  152. 

Louis  IX.,  Saint,  k.  Fr.,  107. 
Lubeck,  city,  151. 
Lunden,  Gothic  city,  5,90«.,  146M. 
Luneburg,  or  Linonia,  city,  147,  151. 

Machine  shops,  Roman,  20. 

Mseatce,  Gothic  tribe,  41,  45. 

Magna  Charta,  92«.,  114. 

Mahomet,  Mahometanism,  32,  86,146. 

Maia,  Mother  of  God,  29,  go/?. 

Manillas;  ring  money  of  Africa,  169. 

Manufactures,  Roman,  in  Britain,  20. 

Marculfus,  forms  of,  86. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  sov.-pont.,  40;?.,  41. 

Maritime  traits  of  the  Goths,  q.  v. 

Marseilles,  city,  21. 

Martel,  Charles,  146. 

Matrem  Deorum  (see  Mother  of  gods). 


204 


INDEX. 


l\Iax-imian  Hercules,  4(),  133. 

Maxinnis,  emp.,  54,(56,  61,  63,  68,  71,  72. 

Medical  practitioners,  24. 

!Menapia,  Menapians,  2. 

Metonic  cycle,  24. 

Milestones  (milliaria),  ig,  51. 

Military  service,  18,  1 84. 

Mines,  Mining,  iS,  21,  30,  36,  37,  39,122. 

Mints,  22. 

Mistletoe,  146. 

Mithra,  Mithraism,  31. 

Money,  prerogative  of,  116;  use  of,  195. 

Monetary  Commission,  Roman,  23. 

systems,  22«. ,  84,  loi ,  1 1 7, 164, 167, 

172,178,183,188. 
Montezuma,  35. 
Moors,  57. 

Moral  character  of  the  Romans,  30. 
Moslems,  32,  105,  148,  167,  190. 
Mother  of  the  gods,  2,  3,  6,  8,  29,  55«., 

ton.,  go;/.,  loi,  131,  139. 
INFowing  machines,  Roman,  18. 
Mozambique,  Roman  voyages  to,  25. 
M tiller,  Max,  cited,  54. 
Mutilations  of  scriptures  (.r^^  Forgeries). 
Mutiny  of  Roman  troops,  34,  41. 

Names,  Roman  30;  Gothicig4;  English  g2. 

of  slaves  31. 
Nautoe  Parisiaci,  56«. 
Nautical  terms,  24. 
Navies,  ig,  4g,  143,  185. 
Navigation,  24,  162. 
Navigation  laws,  21. 
Nennius,  monkish  chronicler,  73,  137. 
Nero,  sov.-pont.,  35. 
Ness,  or  cape,  7. 
New  Year,  6. 
Nicsea,  council,  60. 
Nistheim,  the  Gothic  hell,  160. 
Nizzuz,  I45«. 
Nobility,  28,  go,  177,  185. 
Normans,  182.  191. 
Norsemen,  38,40,  171,190. 
Norse  superstitions,  14,  163. 
North  American  colonies,  22. 
Northumbria,  41. 
Norway;  Norwegians,  3,  4,  155. 
Notaries,  public,  23. 
Notitia  Imperii,  39. 
Notre  Dame,  56. 
Novgorod,  133,150,152,190. 
Nummulary  grammar,  178. 
Nummulary  system,  122. 
Nundine,  or  Ninth  day,  6,98,139. 
Nydham  bog  find,  165. 

Odin  (see  Woden). 

Offa,  k.  Mercia,  A.  D.  755-96,  184. 

Orkney  Islands,  39. 

Ossian,  of  Macpherson,  a  forgery,  167. 


Ovid,  cited,  47,  129;/,  154. 
Oxford,  city,  university  and  See,  7,  197, 
Oxford,  Statutory  I'rovisions  of,  93. 
Oyster  fisheries  of  the  Romans,  19,  21. 

Palimpsests,  76. 

Pannonia,  147. 

Papinian,  Roman  jurist,  23,  82. 

Paraguay  missions,  of  the  Jesuits,  106. 

Parliament  {set'  C'ommons). 

Pavements,  Roman  tasselated,  21. 

Pelligrini,  Father,  187. 

Pepin  of  Heristal,  146. 

Pepin  le  Bref,  A.D.  714-68,  146. 

Perennius,  41. 

Pertinax,  sov.-pont.,  42. 

Peter's  Pence,  40;/.,  i86m.,  188, 

Pevensy,  destroyed  Roman  city,  67. 

Phoenicians,  i,  12S. 

I'hysicians,  Rom. -Brit.,  24. 

Picts,  8,  10,  13,  41,  71,  72. 

Piracy,  Gothic,  162. 

Place-names,  7,  131. 

Platina,  Cardinal,  187. 

Pliny,  on  Monetary  Crimes,  119, 

I'olice,  Rom. -Brit.,  ig. 

Polypticum,  i57«. 

Pompey,  the  Great,  139. 

Pontifex-Maximus,  loi. 

Popes,  87;/.,  148. 

Posts,  and  post-horses,  Rom. -Brit.,  rg. 

Pow-wow,  an  Indian  council,  gi. 

Prasutagus,  a  British  chieftain,  17,  34. 

Prerogative  of  Money,  116,  125,185. 

Printing,  alleged,  4th  century,  ig8. 

Priscillian,  62«. 

Probus,  sov.-pont.,  47,  50,  133. 

Proconsuls  in  Britain,  37. 

Professions,  learned,  23. 

Publicola,  institutes  of,  108-9. 

Pultowa,  battle,  6. 

Puritans,  106. 

Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  2,  11,  130,  155. 

Quintius  Fabius  Rullianus,  Max.,  102. 

Rada-Gaisus,  4,  65. 

Ratio  of  silver  to  gold,  i']2n.,  173,  178. 

Receipts  (see  Revenues). 

Religion,  Roman,  26,  28,  188. 

Gothic,  154. 

Representation  in  the  Commons,  14. 

Retts,  or  indemnities,  157. 

Revenue  and  Expenditure  accounts,  IC3. 

Risars  and  Half-Risars,  154. 

Roads  {see  Highways). 

Roland,  the  song  of,  184. 

Roman  history  of  Britain,  16. 

occupation  of  Britain,  15. 

language  and  religion,  75. 

law,  75,  76,  88. 


INDEX. 


205 


Rome,  sacked  by  Alaric,  134, 

Scat,  40«.,  57,  168. 

Romulus,  his  alleged  Senate,  q5. 

Rugen,  isle,  149. 

Runes;  runic  inscriptions,  4,  5,  25«.,  131, 

141,  i66w.,  167,  172,  196,  198. 
Russia,  Russians,  90. 

Sabinians,  80. 
SacK,  127,  194, 
Sagas,  166,  186. 
Saint  Albans,  36, 

Augustine,  72. 

Jerome,  69. 

Saints,  or  minor  deities,  28. 

Sancho  IV.,  k.  Aragon,  86. 

Sandefiord,  ship-find,  194. 

Saxons;  Saxony,  13,  14,135,138,147,153. 

Saxonicus,  surname  of  Theodosius,53. 

Saxon  Shore,  Counts  of  the,  13,193. 

Scandinavia,  130,  133. 

Scats,  Gothic  coins,  167. 

Scots;  Scotland,  45. 

Scythia;  Scythians,  8,  194. 

Selecti,  Three  Hundred,  107,  in. 

Seltz,  Treaty  of,  187. 

S.   C.   (Senatus  Consulto)  money.     {See 

Bronze.) 
Septimius  Severus,  sov.-pont.,  23,43. 
Serapion:  Serapis,  31,  33,  195. 
Servius  Tullius  regulates  Rom. tribes,  lOO. 
Sibylline  books,  95,  196. 
Silver,  18,  20,  23,  118,  123. 
Slaves,  British,  31. 

Gothic,  157. 

Roman,  31,70,82,84,89. 

Ecclesiastical,  60,  92. 

Slavs,  or  Sclavs,  75,  139,  148,  153. 
Solon  and  popular  rights,  113. 
Son  of  God  (Divus  Filius),  29,  177. 
Sozomen,  ecclesiastical  writer,  196. 
Speaker  of  the  Commons,  or  Comitia,97, 

100. 
Specialization  of  Industries,  23. 
Sphericity  of  the  Earth,  24. 
Statute  of  Frauds,  Gothic,  157. 
Stilicho,  Roman  general,  66. 
Stundists,  of  Russia,  ii5«. 
Subsidence  of  the  Sea,  ig«. 
Suiones,  138,  143. 
Surnames  (see  Names). 
Suttee.  Gothic,  163. 
Suzerainty  of  Rome,  189,  193. 
Svastica,  3,131,141,172,174. 
Syracuse,  city,  48. 

Tacitus,  sov.-pont.,  A.D.  275-6,105;?. 

Tam-Ies,  Tam-Issus,or  Thames, 5, 11, 20. 

Tat  (Buddha),  56;/. 

Taters,  or  Tartars,  112,  136. 

Taxes,  tributes  and  customs,  37,  39,  40«. 


Tel-el-Amarna,  ring  money,  168. 
Teutones,  130,139,195. 
Teutonic  monk-knights,  149. 
Teutonic  theory,  11. 
Tammuz  {see  Tham-Ies,  Buddha,  etc.) 
Theodoric,  Gothic  k.  Italy,  85. 
Theodosian  Code  {see  also  Codes),  27,82. 
Theodosius  .Saxonicus,  53,57,65,71. 
Theodosius  I.,  sov.-pont.,  58,59,65. 

-_ II.,  27,  81. 

Things,  or  Gothic  assemblies,  155. 

Thor,  52,  158. 

Thracia,  Thracian  Goths,  46,  47. 

Thralls  {see  slaves). 

Three  Hundred  (sacred  numbers),   108, 

110,111,112. 
Tiberius,  sov.-pont.,  23. 
Tiles,  8«.,  ig. 

Tim^us,  on  Monetary  Crimes,  119. 
Tin,  8,  18. 
Titles  {see  Nobility). 
Tomb  rifling,  162. 
Tombstones,  Roman,  30, 
Totems,  Gothic,  6. 
Toulouse,  city,  82. 
Towns,  British,  39. 
Trapesus  (Trebizond),  128, 
Treves,  city,  46,  51,  62. 
Tribes,  British,  39. 
Tribonius,  Roman  jurist,  82. 
Tribute  {see  Rome-Scat,  etc.),  57, 
Triune  deities,  6. 
Truth,  historical,  187. 
Twelve  Tables,  83,  157, 

Ulfilus,  "  bishop  of  the  Goths,"  155,195. 
Ulpius,  proconsul  in  Britain,  42. 
Universities,  24,  86,  87,  114. 
Upheaval  of  the  land,  igw. 
Upsala,  city,  52,147,161. 

Vadmal,  cloth  money,  149,  161. 
Valentinian  I.,  sov.-pont.,  56,  57. 

n., 57,  60. 

Valhalla,  160. 

Valkyries,  160. 

Vandals,  140,  14S,  150. 

Varangians,  13. 

Varro,  Roman  writer,  105K. 

Vassalage,  11,  18,  189. 

Vassals,  35,  189,  193. 

Velocity  of  Money,  121. 

Vendee,  8. 

Veneti,  2,3,5,8,9,13,128,132,139. 

Baltic,  3,8,139,149,151. 

Venus  de  Milo,  98. 

Verulamium,  city,  36. 

Vicarious  government,         42,  51. 

Vikings,  11,45,49.56,  139,142,144,162. 

Villas,  Rom. -Brit.,  20. 

Vines,  17,  21. 


206 


INDEX. 


Vinet  (sec  Vcneti). 

A'irius  Lupus,  Roman  proconsul, 42. 
"\'it.  Dr.  Vicenzo  de,  cited,  2,  23«. 
Volapuk  language,  76. 

Waldemarl.,  k.  Denmark,  150. 

^Vales;  Welsh,  39,  53. 

\Valls,  military,  15,  17,  iqm., 37,39, 40, 41, 

42,44,45,50,57,58,61,199. 
AValnuts  (Caul  nuts),  17. 
Water-powers,  21. 
Watling  street,  51. 
Wax  images  of  ancestors,  28. 
Wessex,  kingdom,  175. 
Weston,  city,  68. 
W'hale  fishery,  19. 


Whitsuntide,  113. 

William  I.,  k.  England,  182. 

Wines,  21. 

Wisby,  142,  151. 

Witenagemote,  91, 106. 114,1 25, I56«. 

Woden,  8,32,52,74,137,146,159,163,187. 

Wollin,  isle,  130,150. 

Women,  rights  of,  in  Gotland,  163. 

Woollen  mills,  Rom. -Brit.,  21. 

Wroxeter,  city,  36,  68. 

Yen-Iesi,  river  of  Siberia,  4,  5. 
York  (Eboracum),  19,20,34,44,68. 
Yoemen,  Rom. -Brit.,  44. 

Zachi,  of  Lake  Baikal,  5. 


CORRIGENDA. 


PAGE.       LINE. 


15 

22 

30 

41 

37 

40 

52 

3 

121 

19 

148 

39 

157 

28 

157 

23 

168 

35 

172 

II 

177 

16 

177 

33 

188 

2 

For  inabita7its  read  inhabitants. 

For  Adams  read  Adam. 

AitevSohvay  a:d  d  and  from  the  Clyde  to  the  Firth  of  Forth. 

For  unmistakcdly  read  unmis takingly. 

For  together  read  say. 

For  nop  read  nsp. 

For  eunichs  read  eunuchs. 

For  relinguished  read  relinquished. 

For  Portugese  read  Portuguese. 

For  oro  read  or  a. 

For  when  read  whom. 

For  Alexus  read  Alexius. 

For  when  read  whom. 


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